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TREATISE 


INSTITUTION,  NATURE,  AND   DESIGN 


LORD'S    SUPPER, 


BY  JAMES  R? WILLIAMS, 

A  MINISTER  OF  THE  METHODIST  PROTESTANT  CHURCH. 


"This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."—Jesiis. 

"For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and  drink  tliis  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's 
death  till  he  come."— PcmA 


BALTIMORE: 

PUBLISHED    BY  JOHN  J.  HARROD. 

1832. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year 
1832,  by  James  R.  Williams,  in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the 
District  Court  of  Maryland. 


TOY,  PRINT. 


I  HtC,  APR  1882 

\tHE0L06IG&L 

CONTENTS. 


Preface, 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  brief  notice  of  the  opinions  held  by  Luther,  Zuingle, 
Calvin,  and  others,  on  the  Lord's  Supper;  to  which  is 
added,  the  present  views  and  practice  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  in  the  words  of  her  own  ministers,    ....    9 

CHAPTER  11. 

The  institution,  nature  and  design  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
as  taught  in  the  Scriptures, 22 

CHAPTER  III. 

A  candid  examination  of  those  passages  of  Scripture  that 
occasionally  or  incidentally  relate  to  the  Eucharist,      .    45 

CHAPTER  IV. 

An  answer  to  the  question — What  preparations  are  neces- 
sary as  it  regards  the  elements  for  the  Supper,  and  as  it 
respects  those  who  partake?  ....,..,.    62 

CHAPTER  V. 

An  answer  to  the  question — Who  may  partake?     ...    71 

CHAPTER  VI, 

An  answer  to  the  question — What  attitude  are  christians 
to  assume  at  the  Lord's  table? ,    .    .    80 


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PREFACE 


The  Author  of  the  following  pages  published  an  essay 
on  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  the  Methodist  Protestant,  at  the 
request  of  the  editor  of  that  periodical,  who  had  heard 
him  deliver  a  discourse  in  St.  John's  church,  on,  ''This 
do  in  remembrance  of  me."  Since  the  appearance  of 
the  essay,  the  writer  has  been  repeatedly  solicited  to 
prepare  a  treatise,  of  convenient  size,  on  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, embodying  the  views  presented  in  the  essay.  To 
gratify  his  friends,  and  to  contribute  his  mite  towards 
the  elucidation  of  this  important  subject,  he  has  revised 
the  essay,  and  added  a  considerable  amount  of  matter, 
which  he  hopes  will  be  interesting  and  useful. 

He  has  been  induced  the  more  cheerfully  to  under- 
take this  little  work,  from  the  consideration,  that,  v/ith 
the  exception  of  one  or  two,  he  knows  of  no  treatise 
on  the  subject  which  does  not  abound  in  phraseology 
and  sentiment,  calculated  to  lead  the  minds  of  the  rising 
generation  back  again  to  the  exploded  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation.  The  old  language  of  transubstantiation 
is  retained,  and  the  unintelligible  notion  of  spiritual 
manducation  is  inculcated  in  almost  every  treatise  he  has 
read.  The  highly  exceptional  phraseology  of  old  for- 
mularies^  blended  with  scriptural  language,  is  defended, 
and  urged  on  the  acceptance  of  the  religious  community; 
and  thus  error  and  truth,  light  and  darkness,  are  com- 
mingled, and  presented  to  the  minds  of  the  humble,  but 
sincere  christian,  to  the  great  detriment  of  religious 
knowledge,  and  rational  piety.    "Take  and  eat  this  in 


VI  PREFACE. 

remembrance  that  Christ  died  for  thee,''  is  a  scriptural 
injunction.  But  this  is  immediately  and  inseparably 
connected  with  an  exhortation  adapted  to  a  species  of 
transubstantiation  which  is  utterly  unintelligible.  "And 
PEED  on  HI3I  in  thy  heart  by  faith."  A  late  writer  on 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  exclaims: 
^With  what  holy  importunity  should  we  concur  in  the 
petition;  Grant  us,  therefore,  gracious  Lord,  so  to  eat 
the  FUESH  of  thy  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  drink 
his  BLOOD,  that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made  clean  by 
his  body^  and  our  souls  washed  through  his  most  precious 
blood.''  He  is  not  alone,  however,  in  this  view  of 
things;  the  same  sentiments  are  reiterated,  published, 
sung,  and  constantly  impressed  on  the  minds  of  entire 
worshipping  assemblies.  "Now,  Lord,  on  us  thy  Jlesh 
bestow,  and  let  us  drink  thy  blood.^^  "By  faith  his  Jlesh 
we  eat,  who  here  his  passion  show."  ^'•Drink  thy  blood 
for  sinners  shed,  taste  thee  in  the  broken  bread.''  "Hail 
sacred  feast  which  Jesus  makes!  rich  banquet  of  his 
fiesh  and  blood?"* 

How  revolting  are  such  expressions  to  humanity  and 
piety;  and  how  completely  foreign  to  the  institution  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  They  may,  indeed, 
be  pleasant  to  the  ears  of  those  who  have  been  long  ac- 
customed to  their  sound,  and  serve  to  make  religion 
mechanical;  but  they  never  can  enlighten  the  mind,  nor 
lead  tlie  heart  to  a  just  and  profitable  contemplation  on 
the  unbounded  love  and  mercy  of  God  in  the  gift  of  his 
Son  for  the  redemption  and  salvation  of  a  world  of  sin- 
ners lost  If  we  be  not  much  mistaken,  the  day  is  ap- 
proaching when  the  dark  phraseology  of  superstition 
will  give  place  to  the  intelligible  language  of  the  gospel; 
and  the  simple  views  of  divine  revelation  will  be  re- 
ceived in  preference  to  those  mystical  notions  which  de- 


i 


PREFACE.  vii 

grade  the  christian  religion,  and  bewilder  the  minds  of 
the  sincere  followers  of  Christ. 

The  convention  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
at  the  formation  of  our  economy,  adopted  an  entire  new 
service  or  formulary  for  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  in  which  there  is  not  a  single  sentence  concern- 
ing feeding  on  Christ's  body  by  faith,  or  drinking  his 
blood.  Hence,  we  have  no  phraseology  of  this  kind  at 
the  celebration  of  the  Supper  among  us,  except  occa- 
sionally by  some  ministers,  who,  from  old  habit,  inadver- 
tently come  over  such  expressions.  When,  however, 
these  do  occur,  we  should  regard  them  as  mere  inadver- 
tencies, and  not  suffer  our  minds  to  be  diverted  from  a 
proper  and  correct  exercise,  suited  to  the  occasion.  The 
same  deportment  will  be  proper  when  we  partake  with 
christians  of  other  denominations  who  constantly  use  a 
phraseology  which  we  conceive  to  be  exceptionable.  It 
is  our  duty  to  exercise  charity  towards  all,  and  to  have 
fellowship,  so  far  as  we  consistently  can,  with  every  de- 
nomination of  professing  christians,  notwithstanding  how 
they  may  differ  from  us  in  their  modes  of  worship,  or 
manner  of  expressing  themselves  in  their  formularies. 

It  has  appeared  to  the  writer,  that  a  small  work  which 
shall  clearly  exhibit  the  nature  and  design  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  freed  from  all  the  mystical  shroudings  of  super- 
stition, will  be  acceptable  and  useful  to  our  community. 
Some  persons,  indeed,  have  supposed,  that  if  the  Eucha- 
rist be  divested  of  those  mystical  notions,  the  service  will 
lose  much  of  its  solemnity.  To  this  objection  we  say; 
if  the  solemnity  spoken  of  be  produced  by  erroneous  ^nd. 
superstitious  notions,  the  sooner  we  are  freed  of  such 
solemnity  the  better;  for  it  must  necessarily  be  evanescent 
in  its  nature,  and  unsanctifying  in  its  effects.  But  this 
service  needs  no  such  auxiliaries.    The  contemplation 


VIU  PREFACE. 

of  the  dying  love  of  Jesus,  accompanied  by  a  lively  faith 
in  Christ,  will  be  found  sufficient  to  solemnize  the  soul, 
and  move  the  heart  of  every  rational  christian.  Who 
can  contemplate  the  great  love  wherewith  Christ  loved 
us  and  gave  himself  for  us,  and  not  feel  the  emotions  of 
a  grateful  and  pious  heart  rising  to  God  in  thanksgiving 
and  praise?  Who  can  meditate  on  the  character  and 
sufferings  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  who  was  acquainted 
with  grief,  who  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  buf- 
feted, scourged,  reviled,  crucified,  and  not  feel  his  soul 
moved  within  him,  when  he  commemorates  the  death 
and  passion  of  the  Saviour?  Who  can  reflect,  without 
gratitude,  on  the  fact,  that  Jesus  "Christ,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  tasted  death  for  every  man;"  "that  he  was  wound- 
ed for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniqui- 
ties, the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  and 
with  his  stripes  we  are  healed."  That  through  the  suf- 
ferings, death,  resurrection,  and  intercession  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  be  justi- 
fied from  all  things  from  which  he  could  not  be  justified 
by  the  law  of  Moses. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  little  work,  for  the  w'riter 
had  no  intention  to  make  a  book,  two  objects  have  been 
kept  in  view.  One  was  to  instruct  the  mind;  and  the 
other  to  affect  the  heart  and  improve  the  life  of  each  in- 
dividual who  may  peruse  it,  particularly  the  ministers  and 
members  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  To  these, 
therefore,  it  is  dedicated,  with  the  single  request,  that 
they  peruse  it  with  becoming  attention,  and  accept  the 
views  offered,  so  far  as  they  accord  with  the  lively  ora- 
cles of  God. 

Baltimore,  Dec.  1,  1832. 


TREATISE 


LORD'S    SUPPER 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  BRIEF  NOTICE  OF  THE  OPINIONS  HELD  BY  LUTHER, 
ZUINGLE,  CALVIN,  AND  OTHERS,  ON  THE  LORD's 
SUPPER. 

The  early  reformers  are  justly  entitled  to  the 
gratitude  and  admiration  of  every  real  protestant 
in  the  universe,  for  the  decision  and  zeal  with 
which  they  assailed,  and  continued  to  expose  the 
superstitions  of  their  day.  They  are  equally  en- 
titled to  our  veneration,  on  account  of  the  sound 
principles  they  laid  down  for  the  government  of 
themselves  and  their  successors.  The  first  and 
most  important  principle  advanced  by  them,  was: 
The  word  of  God  is  the  only  and  sufficient  rule  of 
faith  and  practice.  The  second,  was:  Every  chris- 
tian has  an  inalienable  right  to  private  judgment 
in  matters  of  religion.  These  were  necessarily 
connected,  and  the  whole  reformation  proceeded 
upon  them,  so  far  as  the  policy  and  power  of 
crowned  heads  and  superstitious  minds  would  per- 
mit. Such,  however,  was  the  state  of  the  times 
2 


10  OPINIONS    OF    LUTHERj 

in  which  those  early  reformers  lived,  that  a  tho- 
rough reformation  from  the  errors  of  popery,  in 
doctrine,  discipline,  rites  and  ceremonies,  was  not 
to  be  expected  during  the  lifetime  of  the  principal 
actors  in  the  great  and  glorious  work  of  the  refor- 
mation. They  achieved  much,  but  a  great  deal 
more  remained  to  be  accomplished.  Indeed,  at 
the  present  time,  there  still  hangs  about  the  doc- 
trines and  services  of  several  protestant  churches, 
some  relics  of  popery.  This  remark  is  strikingly 
exemplified  in  the  doctrines  and  services  of  the 
Eucharist,  as  exhibited  in  creeds,  confessions  of 
faith,  formularies,  catechisms,  &c.  of  different  pro- 
testant churches,  in  Europe  and  America. 

Luther,  the  intrepid  champion  of  the  reforma- 
tion in  Germany,  while  he  renounced  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  as  a  pernicious  error,  taught 
the  no  less  exceptionable  doctrine  of  consubstantia- 
tion.  He  maintained,  that  although  the  bread  and 
wine  used  in  the  Lord's  Supper  are  not  changed 
in  substance  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  yet 
the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  in,  with  and 
under  these  elements,  and  are  exhibited  together 
with  them,  and  received  and  eaten  by  every  com- 
municant. That  christians  really  feed  upon,  and 
are  spiritually  nourished  by  the  proper  substance 
of  Christ's  body. 

Dr.  Maclaine,  in  a  note  explanatory  of  the  term 
impanation^  used  by  Dr.  Mosheim  in  his  Church 
History,  holds  the  following  language:  ''The  term 
impanation,  (which  signifies  here  the  presence  of 


ZUINGLE   AND   CALVIN.  11 

Christ's  body  in  the  Eucharist,  in  or  with  the  bi^ead 
exhibited,)  amounts  to  what  is  called  consuhstan- 
tiation.  It  was  a  modification  of  the  monstrous 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  was  first  invent- 
ed by  some  of  the  disciples  of  Berenger,  who 
had  not  a  mind  to  break  all  measures  with  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  afterwards  adopted  by  Lu- 
ther and  his  followers,  who,  in  reality,  made  sad 
work  of  it.  For,  in  order  to  give  it  some  faint  air 
of  possibility,  and  to  maintain  it  as  well  as  they 
could,  they  fell  into  a  wretched  scholastic  jargon 
about  the  nature  of  substaiices,  subsistences,  attri- 
butes, 2^^^operties  and  accidents,  that  did  infinite 
mischief  to  the  true  and  sublime  science  of  gospel 
theology,  whose  beautiful  simplicity  it  was  adapted 
to  destroy.  The  very  same  perplexity  and  dark- 
ness, the  same  quibbling,  sophistical  and  unintelli- 
gible logic  that  reigned  in  the  attempts  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation, were  visible  in  the  controversial  wri- 
tings of  the  Lutherans  in  behalf  of  consubstantia- 
tion  or  impanation.  The  latter  had,  indeed,  one 
absurdity  less  to  maintain;  but  being  obliged  to 
assert,  in  opposition  to  intuitive  evidence  and  un- 
changeable truth,  that  the  same  body  may  be  in 
many  places  at  the  same  time,  they  were  conse- 
quently obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the  darkest 
and  most  intricate  jargon  of  the  schools  to  hide  the 
nonsense  of  this  unaccountable  doctrine." 

We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power,  on  good 
authority,  to  say,  the  modern  Lutherans  have  gene- 


12  OPINIONS  OF  LUTHER, 

rally  abandoned  the  doctrine  of  consubstantiation 
as  unintelligible  and  unscriptural.  And  we  are 
also  informed,  that  in  almost  all  the  newly  organi- 
zed congregations,  bread  is  substituted  for  the  wa- 
fer; and  it  is  highly  probable  the  altars  will  give 
place  to  tables. 

The  justly  celebrated  reformer,  Zuingle,  founder 
of  the  protestant  or  reformed  churches  in  Switzer- 
land, opposed  Luther  in  a  controversy  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Eucharist.  He  contended  that  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  not  present  in  the 
Lord's  Supper;  that  the  bread  and  wine  are  no 
more  than  external  signs  or  symbols  of  the  absent 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  designed  to  excite  in 
the  minds  of  Christians  a  grateful  remembrance  of 
the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Saviour.  This 
opinion  was  embraced  by  all  the  friends  of  the  re- 
formation in  Switzerland,  and  by  a  considerable 
number  of  reformers  in  Germany.  Luther,  on  the 
other  hand,  maintained  his  doctrine  of  consubstan- 
tiation with  the  utmost  obstinacy;  and  hence  arose, 
in  the  year  1542,  a  tedious  and  vehement  contro- 
versy, which  eventuated  in  a  fatal  division  of  the 
reformed  churches;  and,  to  a  very  great  extent, 
alienated  in  affection  those  who  had  embarked  to- 
gether in  the  sacred  cause  of  religion  and  liberty. 

John  Calvin,  the  founder  and  head  of  the  reform- 
ed church  of  Geneva,  laboured  with  great  assiduity 
and  perseverance  to  reconcile  the  Lutheran  and 
reformed  churches;  to  effect  which  he  presented 
another  view  of  the  Eucharist,  differing  a  little 


ZUINGLE  AND   CALVIN.  13 

from  Luther's  opinion,  but  very  much  from  that 
of  Zuingle.  He  acknowledged  the  real  presence 
of  Christ's  body  and  blood  in  the  elements  used  at 
the  Lord's  Supper;  but  contended  that  they  were 
spiritually  present,  and  were  eaten  and  drunk  by 
faith. 

The  present  creeds  of  the  reformed  churches 
appear  to  be  identical  with  Calvin's  notion.  In 
the  larger  catechism  of  the  Presbyterian  and  re- 
formed churches,  the  following  answer  is  given  to 
the  question — what  is  the  Lord's  Supper?  "The 
Lord's  Supper  is  a  sacrament  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, Avherein  by  giving  and  receiving  bread  and 
wine,  according  to  the  appointment  of  Jesus  Christ, 
his  death  is  showed  forth;  and  they  that  worthily 
communicate /eetZ  upon  his  body  and  blood  to  their 
spiritual  nourishment  and  growth  in  grace,  &c," 
To  the  question — ^^Hoiv  do  they  that  worthily  com- 
municate in  the  Lord's  Supjier  feed  upon  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  therein?  Ans.  As  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  are  not  corporally  or  carnally 
present  in,  with  or  under  the  bread  and  wine  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,  are  yet  spiritually  present  to 
the  faith  of  the  receiver  no  less  truly  and  really 
than  the  elements  themselves,  so  they  that  worthily 
communicate  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, do  therein  feed  upon  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  not  after  a  corporal  or  carnal,  but  in  a 
spiritual  manner;  yet  truly  and  really  while  by 
faith  they  receive  and  apply  unto  themselves  Christ 
crucified,  and  the  benefits  of  his  death." 


14  OPINIONS  OF  LCTTHERj 

This  view,  however,  is  not  to  be  received  as  the 
implicit  faith  of  all  the  ministers  and  members  of 
the  reformed  churches.  Many  of  them  consider 
this  representation  to  be  unintelligible  and  liable 
to  serious  objections,  and  view  the  Lord's  Supper 
as  exclusively  commemorative. 

Henry  VIII.  of  England,  the  first  protestant 
monarch  of  that  country,  having  received  com- 
plaints that  a  great  diversity  of  doctrines  were 
taught  from  the  pulpits,  sent  a  circular  letter  to  all 
the  bishops  of  the  established  church,  (July  12, 
1536,)  forbidding  all  preaching  till  Michaelmas,  by 
which  time  certain  articles  of  religion  should  be 
set  forth.  The  king  himself  framed  the  articles, 
and  sent  them  into  the  convocation,  where  they 
were  agreed  to  by  both  houses.  The  fourth  arti- 
cle will  exhibit  the  light  in  which  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per was  viewed,  at  that  early  period,  by  the  di- 
vines of  the  Ghurch  of  England: 

"Art.  4.  In  the  sacrament  of  the  altar ^  under 
the  form  of  bread  and  wine,  there  is  truly  and  suh- 
stantially  the  same  body  of  Christ  that  was  born  of 
the  Virgin." 

The  publication  of  the  articles  was  followed  by 
an  order  prohibiting  the  importation  of  foreign 
books,  and  forbidding  all  persons  to  dispute  against 
the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  on  pain 
of  death. 

A  subsequent  parliament  passed  a  statute,  called 
^'The  statute  of  the  six  ai'ticles,''^  entitled  ^^An  act 
for  abolishing  diversity  of  opinions  in  certain  ar- 


ZUIJVGLE   AND    CALVIN.  15 

tides  concerning  the  christian  religion,"^^  The 
first  of  these  declares,  that  ^'in  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar,  after  the  consecration,  there  remains  no  sub- 
stance of  bread  and  wine,  but  under  these  forms 
the  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  present." 
It  was  also  enacted,  "that  if  any  did  speak,  preach 
or  write  against  the  first  article ,  they  should  be 
judged  heretics,  and  be  burnt,  without  any  abjura- 
tion, and  forfeit  their  real  and  personal  estate  to  the 
king."  It  will  be  perceived  by  these  acts,  that 
the  Church  of  England,  in  the  time  of  Henry  VITL 
held  the  monstrous  doctrine  of  transuhstantiation', 
and  was  equally  intolerant  with  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Edward  VI.,  son  and  successor  of  Henry  VIIL, 
appointed  a  committee  composed  of  the  dignitaries 
af  the  church,  to  examine  and  reform  the  offices  of 
the  church.  They  commenced  with  the  Eucharist, 
in  which  they  made  little  or  no  alteration,  (in 
phraseology,)  leaving  the  office  of  the  mass  as  it 
stood,  only  adding  an  order  that  the  priest  should 
give  to  the  communicants  a  portion  of  the  wine  as 
well  as  the  wafer  bread,  and  should  dispense  with 
the  popish   practice  of   elevating  the  elements.* 

*  The  historian  Neal  states,  that  "in  reforming  the  other  offi- 
ces, the  committee  examined  and  compared  the  Romish  missals 
of  Sarwn,  York,  Hereford, Bangor  and  imco/n,  and  out  of  them 
composed  the  morning  and  evening  service,  almost  in  the  same 
form  as  it  stands  at  present;  only  there  was  no  confession  nor 
absolution.  From  the  same  materials  they  compiled  a  litany, 
consisting  of  many  short  petitions,  interrupted  by  suflfrages, 
[responses;]  it  is  the  same  with  that  which  is  now  used,  (in 
the  Church  of  England,)  except  the  petition  to  be  delivered 


16  OPINIONS  OF  LUTHERj 

The  altars  were  subsequently  removed  from  the 
cathedrals  and  churches,  by  order  of  the  king's 
council,  and  tables  were  substituted.  The  reasons 
given,  are:  1.  "Because  our  Saviour  instituted  the 
sacrament  at  a.table,  and  not  at  an  altar."  2.  "Be- 
cause Christ  is  not  to  be  sacrificed  over  again,  but 
his  body  and  blood  to  be  spiritually  eaten  and 
drunk  at  the  holy  supper,  for  which  a  table  is  more 
proper  than  an  altar."  3.  "Because  the  Holy 
Ghost,  speaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  calls  it  the 
Lord's  table,  1  Cor.  x.  21 — but  no  where  an  altar." 
4.  "The  canons  of  the  council  of  Nice,  as  well  as 
the  fathers  Chrysostom  and  Augusti7ie,  call  it  the 
Lord's  table;  and  though  they  sometimes  call  it  an 
altar,  it  is  to  be  understood  figuratively."  5.  "An 
altar  has  relation  to  a  sacrifice;  so  that  if  we  re- 
tain the  one  we  must  admit  the  other;  which  would 
give  great  countenance  to  mass-priests."  6.  "There 
aie  many  passages  in  ancient  writers,  which  show 
that  communion  tables  were  of  wood,  that  they 
were  made  like  tables,  and  that  those  who  fled  into 
churches  for  sanctuary  did  hide  themselves  under 
them."  7.  "The  most  learned  foreign  divines 
have  declared  against  altars,  as  Bucer,  Calampa- 
dius,  Zuingle,  Bullinger,  Calvin,  P.  Martyr,  &c. 
and  have  removed  them  out  of  their  several 
churches;  only  the  Lutheran  churches  retain 
them."— >S^r2/pe'5  Annals,  vol,  I,  p.  162. 

/roTn  the  tyranny  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  all  hi»  detestahh 
enormities;  which,  in  the  review  of  the  liturgy  in  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth's time  was  struck  out." — Js''eaVs  History. 


ZUINGLE  AND   CALVIN.  17 

The  historian  Neal  says:  ^^ Ridley,  Cranmer^ 
Latimer,  and  the  rest  of  the  English  reformers, 
were  unanimously  of  opinion,  that  retaining  altars 
would  serve  only  to  nourish  in  the  people's  minds 
the  superstitious  opinion  of  a  propitiatory  mass, 
and  would  minister  an  occasion  of  offence  and  di- 
vision among  the  godly."*  The  principal  tenets 
and  superstitious  ceremonies  of  the  Romish  church 
were  now  nearly  abolished,  but  the  doctrine  of  the 
real  presence  was  still  retained. 

In  1563,  Elizabeth  directed  a  review  of  the  doc- 
trines and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England. — 
The  convocation  of  divines  began  with  the  doc- 
trines, and  reduced  the  forty-two  articles  of  Ed- 
ward VI.  to  thirty-nine,  which  are  substantially 
the  same  with  the  present  thirty-nine  articles  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  of  these  United  States. 

The  twenty-eighth  article  treats  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  inculcates  the  notion  advanced  by 
Calvin,  of  eating  and  drinking  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  spi7^itnally  by  faith.  This  article  was 
adopted  verbatim,  in  1784,  by  the  general  confe- 
rence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  is 
numbered  eighteen  in  their  book  of  discipline. 

We  will  now,  in  the  close  of  this  chapter,  re- 
cord the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  church  in  her 
own  words;  and  we  shall  do  this,  because  some  of 

*•  Would  it  not  be  well  if  our  brethren,  as  sensible  reform- 
ers, were  to  abstain  from  calling  the  railing  around  the  Lord's 
table,  in  our  churches,  "the  altar?'' 


18  OPINIONS   OF  LUTHER, 

her  ministers  have  charged  us  protestants  with 
misrepresenting  them  and  their  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation. 

"The  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  is, 
that  in  the  mass,  there  is  offered  to  God  a  true, 
proper,  and  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  living  and 
the  dead;  and.  that  the  victim  offered  to  God,  is 
the  body  and  blood,  together  with  the  soul  and 
divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Every  Catholic 
necessarily  believes  this  doctrine  in  its  fullest  ex- 
tent and  plainest  meaning,  otherwise  he  would 
cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  church," — Preface  to 
the  Roman  Missal. 

The  Right  Reverend  Doctor  England,  Catholic 
Bishop  of  Charleston,  in  his  explanation  of  the 
mass,  says,  '^Christ  made  the  bread  his  body  by 
the  words,  ^This  is  my  body.''  The  change  of 
the  bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  takes 
place  the  moment  these  words  of  Christ  are  pro- 
nounced by  the  priest.  Before  the  consecration  it 
is  bread;  but  when  the  words  of  Christ  are  added, 
it  is  no  longer  bread,  but  the  body  of  Christ. — 
After  the  consecration,  we  have  no  longer  bread 
and  wine  to  contemplate,  but  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ,  under  the  appearance  of  bread  and 
wine." 

The  French  Catechism  asserts  that  "The  Eu- 
charist is  a  sacrament  which  contains,  really  and 
substantially,  the  body,  blood,  soul,  and  divinity 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  under  the  forms  and 
appearance  of  bread  and  wine."     "The  bread  is 


ZUINGLE   AND   CALVIN.  19 

changed  into  the  hody^  and  the  wine  is  changed 
into  the  hlood  of  our  Lord."  And  in  answer 
to  the  question,  "must  we  worship  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist?"  [the  con- 
secrated bread  and  wine.]  The  answer  given  is, 
"Yes,  undoubtedly;  for  this  body  and  this  blood 
are  inseparably  united  to  his  divinity." 

In  the  canon  of  the  mass  we  have  the  following 
direction.  "After  pronouncing  the  words  of  con- 
secration, the  priest,  kneeling,  adores  and  ele- 
vates the  sacred  host,"* — and  then,  "he  adores 
and  elevates  the  chalice,!  ^"d  lays  it  on  the 
altar."  Elevating  the  bread  and  wine  is  designed 
to  inform  the  people  that  the  change  has  taken 
2:)lace,  and  that  these  are  now  objects  of  worship. 
Laying  them  on  the  altar,  is  the  act  of  "offering 
them  to  God,  as  a  true,  proper,  and  propitiatory 
sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead." 

After  making  this  offering  and  sacrifice,  the  priest 
proceeds  to  receive  the  sacrament,  (as  it  is  called 
by  the  Romish  church.)  On  taking  a  part  of  the 
bread,  he  says:  "the  bodt  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  preserve  my  soul  to  everlasting  life."  And 
on  taking  the  wine,  he  says:  "the  blood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  preserve  my  soul  to  everlasting 
life."  After  receiving,  he  prays:  "may  thy  body, 
O  Lord,  which  I  have  received,  and  thy  blood, 
which  I  have  drunk,  cleave  to  my  bowels;  and 
grant  that  no  stain  of  sin  may  remain  in  me,  who 
have  been  fed  with  this  pure  and  holy  sacrament." 

*  The  host  is  the  consecrated  bread. 
f  The  chalice  is  the  cup  of  wine. 


20  OPINIONS  OF  LUTHER, 

The  following  "act  of  faith"  is  made  by  every 
Catholic,  on  receiving  the  wafer:  "I  most  firmly 
believe  that  in  this  holy  sacrament  thou  art  pre 
sent,  verily  and  indeed;  that  here  is  thy  body  and 
blood,  thy  soul  and  thy  divinity." — Prayer 
before  Communion. 

The  Catholic  Directory  instructs  the  people 
thus:  "At  the  time  of  your  receiving  the  host,  let 
your  head  be  erect,  your  mouth  open  moderately 
wide,  and  your  tongue  a  little  advanced,  so  as  to 
rest  upon  your  under  lip,  that  the  priest  may  con- 
veniently convey  the  blessed  sacrament  into  your 
mouth,  which  being  done,  shut  your  mouth,  let  the 
sacred  host  moisten  a  little  upon  your  tongue,  and 
then  swallow  it  down  as  soon  as  you  can,  and 
afterwards  abstain  awhile  from  spitting.  If  the 
host  should  chance  to  stick  to  the  roof  of  your 
mouth,  be  not  disturbed,  neither  must  you  put 
your  finger  in  your  mouth  to  remove  it,  but  gently 
and  quietly  remove  it  with  your  tongue,  and  so 
convey  it  down.  And  then,  having  received  the 
priest's  blessing,  return  to  your  place,  and  endea- 
vor to  entertain,  as  well  as  you  can,  the  guest 
whom  you  have  received." 

Here  we  will  take  occasion  to  say,  without  the 
smallest  degree  of  animosity  or  bigotry,  that,  in  our 
opinion,  there  can  be  no  doctrine  advanced  more  un- 
scriptural,  irrational  and  pernicious  in  its  consequen- 
ces than  that  of  transubstantiation,  which  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  scriptures  no 
where  inculcate  this  doctrine,  nor  authorise  the 


ZUINGLE  AND   LUTHER.  21 

sacrifice  of  the  mass,  much  less  the  gross  idolatry 
of  worshipping  bread  and  wine.  The  doctrine  of 
the  Catholics  represents  Christ,  when  instituting 
his  supper,  as  breaking  his  own  body,  and  taking 
his  own  blood,  and  feeding  his  disciples  with  these, 
while  his  body  remained  entire,  and  his  blood  was 
still  circulating  in  his  veins;  and  also,  as  dividing 
and  distributing  among  them  his  "soul  and  divin- 
ity," as  food  to  be  eaten.  In  the  transubstantiation 
of  the  mass,  they  represent  that  the  body  of  Christ 
is  present,  whole  and  entire,  without  division  or 
separation  of  parts,  in  many  thousand  places  at  one 
and  the  same  time.  That  the  wafer,  after  "conse- 
cration," while  it  appears  to  all  the  senses,  the  sight, 
the  touch,  the  smell,  the  taste,  as  being  bread,  yet 
that  it  is  not  bread,  but  "the  flesh  and  blood,  the 
soul  and  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." — 
That  while  the  wafer  evidently  possesses  all  the 
properties  of  a  material  substance,  such  as,  figure, 
divisibility,  ponderosity,  &c.  yet  it  is  not  matter, 
but  the  infinite,  undivided,  incomprehensible  God 
in  Christ,  who  is  "swallowed  down"  by  each 
and  every  finite  man  and  woman  that  receives 
the  wafer.  The  native  tendency  of  this  ab- 
surd and  shocking  doctrine  goes  to  destroy  the  tes- 
timony of  our  senses;  to  undermine  the  proofs  of 
all  the  miracles  by  which  God  has  confirmed  reve- 
lation; to  sanction  and  propagate  idolatry;  and  to 
induce  sensible  men,  in  Catholic  countries,  and 
elsewhere,  to  reject  Christianity  as  a  superstition 
too  absurd  to  be  believed. 
3 


CHAPTER  IL 

THE    INSTITUTION,  DESIGN  AND  NATURE    OF  THE    LOED's 
SUPPER. 

The  history  of  the  institution  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  so  plain  a  narrative,  that  it  will  be  ne- 
cessary only  to  transcribe  the  account  given  by  the 
Evangelists  and  by  Paul,  to  put  every  reader  in 
possession  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  Many  profita- 
ble remarks  and  reflections  on  the  occasion,  might 
be  made,  but  these  would  necessarily  increase  the 
number  of  pages,  without  adding  essentially  to  the 
merit  of  the  work.  The  harmonized  view  will 
facilitate  our  inquiries  after  the  design  and  nature 
of  the  Supper,  and  furnish  our  readers  with  a  rea- 
dy means  of  collating  all  the  passages. 

*^And  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread, 
and  blessed  it,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  dis- 
ciples, and  said.  Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body.  And 
he  took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to 
them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it;  For  this  is  my 
blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many 
for  the  remission  of  sins." — Matt.  xxvi.  26-28. 

''And  as  they  did  eat,  Jesus  took  bread,  and 
blessed,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  to  them,  and  said, 
Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body.  And  he  took  the  cup, 
and  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  gave  it  to  them; 
and  they  all  drank  of  it.     And  he  said  unto  them, 


DESIGN  AND  NATURE,  &C.  23 

This  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is 
shed  for  many." — Mark,  xiv.  22-24. 

''And  he  took  bread,  and  gave  thanks,  and  brake 
it,  and  gave  unto  them,  saying.  This  is  my  body 
which  is  given  for  you;  this  do  in  remembrance  of 
me.  Likewise  also  the  cup  after  supper,  saying. 
This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood,  which 
is  shed  for  you." — Luke  xxii.  19,  20. 

"For  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  that  which 
also  I  delivered  unto  you,  That  the  Lord  Jesus, 
the  same  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  took 
bread;  And  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake 
U,  and  said.  Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body,  which 
is  broken  for  you;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me 
After  the  same  manner  also  he  took  the  cup,  when 
he  had  supped,  saying.  This  cup  is  the  new  testa- 
ment in.  my  blood:  this  do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it^ 
in  remembrance  of  me." — 1  Cor,  xi.  23-25. 

We  have  here,  in  a  very  few  words,  the  only 
authentic  history  of  the  institution  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  To  this  history  alone  we  are  to  look  for 
information  on  the  design  of  this  ordinance;  for  if 
the  institutor  has  omitted  any  important  matter 
relative  to  the  design  of  his  oion  institution,  in 
vain  shall  we  look  for  additional  information  from 
writers  of  a  more  modern  date.  But  there  is  no 
omission  here;  the  Lord  has  doubtless  communi- 
cated by  the  Evangelists  and  the  Apostle  Paul,  all 
that  is  necessary  for  his  followers  to  know  on  this 
important  subject.  All  that  remains  for  us  to  do, 
is  clearly  to  ascertain  our  Lord's  meaning,  and 
faithfully  practice  the  duty. 


24  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

Nothing  can  be  plainer,  than  that  our  Lord, 
when  he  instituted  his  supper,  designed  it  to  be  a 
COMMEMORATIVE  FEAST,  which  should  be  obser- 
ved by  his  followers  in  remembrance  of  him. — ■ 
''This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  The  dis- 
ciples understood  these  words  in  their  plain  literal 
signification,  as  enjoining  on  them,  and  on  all  chris- 
tians, the  observance  of  this  duty.  Hence,  after 
the  resurrection  and  ascension  of  their  Master, 
they  commenced  the  duty  of  breaking  bread,  in  imi- 
tation and  memory  of  Christ,  and  taught  the  primi- 
tive christians  to  do  the^  same,  in  simplicity  and 
sincerity  of  heart;  hence,  in  the  Acts  and  the 
Epistles,  it  appears  that  the  early  christians  made 
this  a  part  of  the  services  of  every  Lord's  day. — 
Even  at  Troas,  in  Asia,  where  Paul  tarried  seven 
days,  on  his  return  from  Greece  to  Syria,  the  be- 
lievers were  in  the  practice  of  celebrating  the  Lord's 
supper  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  ^^And  upon 
the  first  day  of  the  iveek,  when  the  disciples  came 
together  to  break  breads  Paul  preachedunto  themJ*^ 
— Acts  XX.  7.  It  also  appears,  that  the  evening  of 
the  Lord's  day  was  selected  as  the  most  appropriate 
time  for  this  service;  for  Paul  '^continued  his 
speech  until  midnight;  And  there  ivere  many  lights 
in  the  upper  chamber  where  they  were  gathered 
together,"^^ 

But  it  has  been  asserted,  that  the  disciples  mis- 
understood their  master's  meaning  when  he  gave 
them  bread  and  wine,  after  having  supped  on  the 
Paschal  Lamb — that  he  did  not  design  to  institute 


25 

this  as  a  religious  rite  in  his  church,  commemora- 
tive of  his  death  and  passion — and  that  the  disci- 
ples led  the  primitive  christians  into  error — and 
christians  of  every  age  since  have  followed  them 
in  error.  We  dare  not  admit  this  assertion,  be- 
cause of  its  consequences,  for  if  we  admit  that 
the  disciples  were  mistaken  in  so  plain  a  case,  we 
have  no  guarantee  that  they  Avere  not  also  mistaken 
in  other  points  of  still  greater  importance.  There 
is,  however,  one  fact  which  settles  this  question, 
and  that  is,  Paul  received  from  the  Lord,  by  reve- 
lation, a  history  of  the  institution  and  obligations 
of  the  Supper.  Addressing  himself  to  the  Corin- 
thians, who  had  been  guilty  of  great  improprieties 
in  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper,  Paul  says:  "For 
I  have  received  of  the  Lord  that  which  also  I  de- 
livered unto  you,  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  same 
night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  took  bread,"  &c. 
And  in  the  following  verse  he  declares  the  design 
of  the  institution:  "For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this 
bread,  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's 
death  till  he  come."  Ye  do  commemorate  his 
death  and  passion,  and  openly  publish  and  tell  the 
world  that  Jesus  died  to  redeem  sinners;  that  he  is 
risen  again,  and  ascended  on  high,  and  that  he  will 
come  again  to  raise  the  dead,  and  judge  the  world 
in  righteousness.  Now,  had  there  been  any  error 
or  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  disciples,  in  relation 
to  this  feast,  Christ  would  have  corrected  it  in  his 
revelation  to  Paul,  but  the  revelation  has  confirmed 
the  facts,  and  sustained  the  disciples.  Therefore, 
3* 


^ 


DESIGN  AND  NATURE 


we  conclude  that  the  disciples  were  not  mistaken; 
that  Christ  did  design  his  supper  to  be  a  perpetual 
commemorative  feast  in  his  church — that  the  Apos- 
tles, the  primitive  christians,  and  all  christians  in 
every  age  of  the  church,  up  to  the  present  day, 
have  been  under  obligation  to  celebrate  this  feast 
in  remembrance  of  Christ. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Hoadly,  in  his  "plain  account  of 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  has 
spoken  so  clearly  and  forcibly  on  this  part  of  our 
subject,  that  we  cannot  forego  the  pleasure  of  tran- 
scribing a  portion  of  his  treatise  "It  appears  from 
these  passages  [those  we  have  cited]  that  the  end 
for  which  our  Lord  instituted  this  duty,  was  the 
remembrance  of  himself;  that  the  bread  to  be  taken 
and  eaten,  was  appointed  to  be  the  memorial  of 
his  body  broken,  and  the  wine  to  be  drunk,  was 
ordained  to  be  the  memorial  of  his  blood  shed:  or, 
(according  to  the  express  words  of  St.  Paul,)  that 
the  one  was  to  be  eaten,  and  the  other  to  be  drunk, 
in  REMEMBRANCE  of  Christ;  and  this  to  be  contin- 
ued until  He,  who  was  once  present  with  his  dis- 
ciples, and  is  now  absent,  shall  come  again.^^ 

"The  doing  any  act  in  remembrance  of  a  person, 
implies  his  bodily  absence;  and  if  he  is  corporally 
present,  we  are  never  said,  nor  can  we  be  said,  to 
perform  that  action  in  order  to  remember  him. — 
And,  therefore,  it  being  declared,  in  the  places  be- 
fore mentioned,  that  the  end  of  this  institution 
'  was  the  remembrance  of  Christ;  it  must  follow 
from  hence,  that  to  eat  and  drink,  in  the  Lord's 


27 

Supper,  must  be  to  eat  and  drink  in  a  sense  con- 
sistent with  the  notion  of  this  remembrance;  and, 
therefore,  to  suppose  or  teach,  that  christians  eat 
his  real  natural  body,  in  remembrance  of  his  real 
natural  body,  and  drink  his  real  blood  in  remem- 
brance of  his  real  blood,  is  to  teach  that  they  are 
to  do  something  in  order  to  remember  him,  which, 
at  the  same  time,  supposes  him  corporally  present, 
and  destroys  the  very  notion  of  that  remembrance^ 
and  so  directly  contradicts  the  most  important 
words  of  the  institution  itself." 

"The  same  may  be  said  of  the  doctrine  of  a  real 
sacrifice  of  Christ's  body,  offered  by  the  priest,  (in 
the  mass,)  viz:  That  it  contradicts  the  very  words 
of  the  institution,  in  which  the  remembrance  of  an 
absent  body  broken,  not  the  offering  of  a  present 
body,  is  declared  to  be  the  end  of  this  religious 
action.  I  say  the  very  words:  for  this  is  not  left 
to  be  deduced  by  consequences  drawn  from  scrip- 
ture words,  but  declared  in  the  ivords  themselves." 

''It  ought  to  be  remarked,  also,  that  the  phrase, 
FEEDING  upon  ChrisVs  body  and  blood,  and  all 
like  it,  are  very  figurative  expressions,  and  not  so 
peculiarly  proper  to  this  rite,  as  those  expressions 
which  strictly  preserve  that  essential  notion  of 
remembrance,  without  which  this  part  of  christian 
service  ceases  to  be  what  it  was  designed  to  be  by 
its  great  institutor.  And,  indeed,  we  so  long  only 
strictly  keep  up  to  the  original  design  of  the  insti- 
tution, whilst  we  consider  it  as  a  rite  seriously 
performed  in  remembrance  of  an  absent  Saviour, 


28  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

and  take  the  bread  and  wine  as  memorials  of  his 
body  broken  and  his  blood  shed,  and  not  as  the 
things  themselves  in  remembrance  of  which  they 
were  ordained  to  be  received." — Hoadly  on  the 
Supper. 

A  few  remarks  will  be  necessary  on  the  ex- 
pressions made  use  of  by  the  inspired  writers  in 
the  passages  adduced,  at  the  commencement  of 
this  chapter. 

Matthew  and  Mark  read:  "TA^s  is  my  body;^^ 
Luke:  ^^This  is  my  body  lohich  is  given  for  you;"^^ 
and  Paul:  ''This  is  my  body  which  is  broken  for 
you.^^ 

These  sentences  are  obviously  figurative  and 
elliptical.  Examples  of  this  kind  of  sentences 
abound  in  the  scriptures,  which  are  readily  under- 
stood. On  one  occasion  Christ  said,  "I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches.''^  Again,  "I  am  the 
door,^^  &e.;  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life." 
These  are  figurative  expressions,  which  no  reader 
can  possibly  misunderstand.  No  one,  we  pre- 
sume, was  ever  led  to  believe,  from  reading  these 
passages,  that  Christ  was  a  vine,  or  a  door,  &c. 
Neither  do  we  suppose  any  one  to  have  been  so  silly 
as  to  pluck  out  his  tight  eye,  or  to  cut  off  his  right 
hand,  because  our  Lord  had  expressed  himself  in 
that  figurative  manner  when  he  cautioned  his  hear- 
ers against  tampering  with  tempting  occasions  to 
sin.  Figurative  and  elliptical  expressions  are  of 
constant  recurrence  in  every  book  we  read,  every 
discourse  delivered,  and  in  all  our  conversations; 
yet,  we  seldom  mistake  their  meaning.     But  cer- 


29 

tain  men  have  affected  not  to  understand  the  import 
of  our  Lord's  words  in  this  passage,  in  a  figurative 
sense,  and  insist  that  they  are  to  he  taken  literally. 
That  Christ  meant  the  bread  was  actually  his  body, 
and  the  wine  his  blood. 

"This  is  my  body,  which  is  broken  for 
you."  Now  this  sentence  is  elliptical  in  both  its 
parts.  If  it  be  not  elliptical,  the  first  part  would 
convey  an  absurdity,  and  the  second  part  would 
assert  what  was  not  true.  The  first  part  would 
say,  the  bread  which  Christ  held  in  his  hands  was 
his  body,  which  would  be  an  absurdity;  and  the 
second  part  would  assert  that  his  body  was  then 
broken,  which  was  not  true;  for  his  body  was  not 
broken  till  the  scourgers  had  made  long  furrows 
in  his  back,  and  the  nails  had  pierced  his  hands 
and  his  feet,  and  the  soldier's  spear  had  pierced 
his  side  and  his  heart.  When  the  ellipsises  are 
supplied,  the  sentence  will  be  freed  from  all  absur- 
dity, and  convey  a  rational  meaning.  "This  bread 
represents  my  body,  which  is  to  he  broken  for 
you." 

Numerous  examples  of  this  kind  of  sentence  are 
found  in  the  scriptures.  And  they  grow  out  of 
the  necessity  of  the  case;  for  there  is  no  term  in 
the  Hebrew,  Chaldee  or  Syriac,  which  expresses 
to  signify^  represent^  mean,  denote.  Our  Lord 
spoke  in  the  Caldeo-Syriac,  and  not  in  Latin  or 
Greek;  and,  therefore,  had  no  word  in  this  lan- 
guage by  which  directly  to  convey  the  sentiment 
as  we  must  necessarily  understand  it,  and  as  it  was 


30  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

doubtless  understood  by  his  disciples.  He,  there- 
fore, said:  "This  is  my  body,"  for,  this  represents 
my  body.  He  used  the  same  mode  of  expression 
in  his  parable  of  the  tares.  ''The  field  is  (repre- 
sents) the  word;  the  good  seed  are  (represent  or 
signify)  the  children  of  the  kingdom;  the  tares 
ARE  (signify)  the  children  of  the  wicked  one, 
&c.— Matt.  13.  38,  39.  The  Hebrew  language  is 
remarkable  for  this  kind  of  expression.  The  seven 
good  kine  are  (represent)  seven  years;  and  the 
seven  good  ears  are  (signify)  seven  years:  the 
dream  is  one.  And  the  seven  ill-favoured  kine 
that  came  up  after  them  are  (denote)  seven  years." 
— Gen.  xli.  2G.  Again,  "The  three  branches  are 
(represent)  three  days."  "The  three  baskets  are 
(represent)  three  days." — Gen.  xl.  12.  18.  The 
Chaldee  language  also  furnishes  examples:  "The 
ten  hours  are  (represent)  ten  kings." — Dan.  vii.  24. 
Paul,  who  furnishes  the  most  particular  history  of 
the  supper,  uses  this  kind  of  expression  himself: 
"And  that  rock  teas  Christ." — 1  Cor.  x.  4.  His 
meaning  evidently  is,  and  that  rock  was  a  type  or 
representation  of  Christ.  Were  we  obliged  to  ad- 
here to  the  letter  of  this  text,  without  admitting 
the  obvious  meaning,  we  should  be  compelled  to 
believe,  that  Christ  was  actually  transformed  into 
a  massy  rock  in  the  wilderness,  and,  in  this  form, 
followed  the  Israelites  through  all  their  journey- 
ings.  "For  they  all  drank  of  that  spiritual  rock 
that  followed  them;  and  that  rock  was  Christ." 
Christ  said:  "this  cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my 


OF  THE  lord's  SUPPER.  31 

blood."  Here,  again,  were  we  compelled  to  ad- 
here strictly  to  the  letter,  we  should  understand 
our  Lord  as  saying,  the  cup  he  then  held  in  his 
hand  was  actually  the  new  testament  or  covenant. 
Our  Lord's  meaning  unquestionably  was,  ^'This 
cup  o/*  ivine  is  the  memorial  of  the  new  cove- 
nant which  will  be  confirmed  to  you  by  the  shed- 
ding of  my  blood. 

In  relation  to  the  cup,  Matthev/  reads:  "And  he 
took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to  them, 
saying,  drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is  my  blood  of 
the  neio  testament,  ivhich  is  shed  for  many  for  ike 
remission  of  sins."  Mark:  "This  is  my  blood  of 
the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many." — 
Luke:  "This  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament, 
which  is  shed  for  you."  And  Paul:  "This  cup  is 
the  new  testament  in  my  blood;  this  do  ye,  as  oft  as 
ye  drink  it,  in  remembrance  of  me."  There  is  a 
slight,  unimportant  variation  in  the  expressions 
used  by  those  four  writers,  which  only  proves  that 
they  were  not  superstitiously  scrupulous  in  num- 
bering our  Lord's  words.  Their  great  object  was 
to  represent  exactly  the  design  and  import  of  his 
instructions.  And  this  is  fully  represented  by 
them,  and  perhaps,  by  neither  of  them  better  than 
by  Matthew.  "Drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is  my 
blood  of  the  new  testament,*  which  is  shed  for 

*  The  word  (5jaS7]5('/)  (diatheke,)  here  translated  testament, 
answers  to  the  Hebrew  word  Berith,  which  all  the  translators 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  have  understood  to  signify  a  covenant. 
The  translators  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  have  afiBxed 
the  same  signification  to  the  word  diatheke  as  often  as  it  occurs 


0%  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

many  for  the  remission  of  sins."  The  same  figu* 
rative  and  elliptical  mode  of  expression  is  here 
employed  as  was  used  in  relation  to  the  bread;  and 
the  same  remarks  and  observations  will  apply  here 
with  equal  propriety.  "This  is  my  blood,  of  the 
new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  the  remission  of 
5ms."  This  ivine  is  an  emblem  or  memorial  of 
my  blood,  which  is  to  be  shed  in  testimony  of  the 
truth,  and  for  the  remission  of  sins.  Drink  ye  all 
of  this  wine;  and  as  often  as  ye  shall  hereafter 
drink  wine  thus,  let  it  be  a  memorial  to  you  of 
my  sacrificial  death;  and  that  ye  were  not  redeemed 
with  the  blood  of  animals,  neither  was  the  truth 
of  the  new  covenant  confirmed*  by  their  blood,  as 
that  made  with  Abraham,  but  with  the  blood'  of 
the  Son  of  God,  in  whom  you  have  redemption  by 
faith,  even  the  forgiveness  of  your  sins,  and  the 
salvation  of  your  souls. 

in  the  writings  of  the  Evangelists  and  in  the  Epistles,  except 
in  the  history  of  the  Supper,  and  in  2  Cor.  iii.  6.  and  Heb.  vii. 
22.  ix.  16.  In  these  passages  they  have  improperly  followed 
the  Vulgate,  which  has  testamentum. 

*"The  blood  of  Christ, or,  in  other  words,  his  death,  is  cal- 
led the  seal  of  the  covenant  in  this  figurative  sense  alone,  viz: 
That  as  covenants  amongst  men  are  signed  by  some  peculiar 
mark  or  seal,  in  order  to  shew  and  prove  their  truth  and  va- 
lidity; so  Christ's  death,  or  Christ's  blood,  considered  as  the 
proof  he  voluntarily  gave  that  the  terms  brought  by  him  to 
mankind,  from  God,  were  truly  what  he  had  represented  them  to 
be,  is,  by  a  figure  of  speech,  called  the  seal  of  the  new  cove- 
nant; and  he  may  be  said  to  have  sealed  it  with  his  blood, 
as  his  death  was  the  strongest  proof  he  could  give  of  the 
reality  of  his  own  and  of  his  Father's  affection  towards  man- 
kind."— Iloadlij. 


OF  THfi  LORD^S  SUPPER.  3^ 

It  evidently  was  not  our  Lord's  design,  in  the 
passages  under  consideration,  to  teach  his  disciples 
to  eat  his  body  as  the  Jews  ate  the  Paschal  Lamb; 
but,  that  he  was  then  instituting  a  feast  of  bread 
and  wine  in  memory  of  his  sacrificial  death  on  the 
cross.  Hence,  he  broke  the  bread  before  he  gave 
it  to  them  to  shadow  forth  his  violent  death  for 
their  redemption.  Take,  eat;  this  broken  bread 
represents  my  body,  which  on  the  morrow  is  to  be 
broken  for  you.  Let  this  great  event  be  constantly 
before  your  minds,  for  there  is  no  other  sacrifice 
for  sin;  and  let  your  faith  lay  firm  hold  on  the 
promise  of  the  Father,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  me  shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life. 

Neither  did  he  design  to  teach  his  disciples  to 
drink  his  blood,  when  he  gave  them  the  cup;  but 
to  shew  them  that  his  blood,  which  had  been  from 
the  beginning  typified  by  the  shedding  of  the 
blood  of  animals,  was  now  about  to  be  poured  out 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world;  and,  that  they 
should  commemorate  that  most  solemn  event  by  a 
perpetual  feast  in  memory  of  his  dying  love  to 
man.  The  idea  of  eating  the  flesh  and  drinking 
the  blood  of  their  beloved  master  could  not  have 
entered  into  the  minds  of  the  disciples.  It  was 
too  shocking  to  be  received  by  them  as  Jews^  who 
would  not  so  much  as  eat  or  drink  the  blood  oi 
animals:  and  it  is  too  monstrous  to  be  received  by 
us  Gentiles,  who  make  some  pretensions  to  common 
sense.  Those  very  men  wrote  to  the  Gentile  con- 
verts at  Antioch,  and  elsewhere,  to  abstain  from 
4 


34  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

things  strangled  and  from  hlood.  Can  it  then  be 
believed,  that  they  who  abhorred  the  hlood  of  ani- 
mals would  daily  drink  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ"^ 
Even  Catholic  writers  have  felt  the  horror  of  this 
cannibal  notion,  and  ingenuously  confess,  "that  did 
their  senses  perceive  what  their  faith  obliges  them 
to  believe,  the  horror  of  it  would  be  so  great,  that 
almost  all  persons  would  abhor  the  receiving  this 
sacrament."  And  hence  they  give  those  two 
Jesuitical  reasons  why,  though  they  do  substan- 
tially eat  the  flesh,  and  drink  that  very  blood  which 
our  Lord  shed  upon  the  cross,  yet  "they  do  this 
under  the  covert  of  the  accidents  of  bread  and  wine. 
1.  That  human  piety  might  not  abhor  the  sacra- 
ment as  they  then  would  do;  for,  say  they,  should 
they  see  the  color  of  human  flesh,  and  the  color 
of  human  blood,  and  taste  the  savour  of  them,  the 
horror  of  it  would  hinder  the  receiving  of  the 
sacrament.  2.  That  this  was  a  just  reason  why 
our  Lord's  body  and  blood  should  lie  thus  conceal- 
ed under  the  species  of  bread  and  wine,  lest  it 
should  be  known  to  infidels,  and  be  open  to  their 
blasphemies;  lest  the  action  should  be  ridiculous 
to  them,  scandalous,  inhuman,  and  execrable." — 
[See  Whitby's  Annotation  on  Matthew,  xxvi.  26.] 
According  to  our  view  of  the  subject,  (and  we 
sincerely  believe  we  have  given  that  which  Christ 
intended,)  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  commemorative 
feast  of  bread  and  wine,  which  elements  serve  as 
memorials  of  the  broken  body  and  shed  blood  of 
Christ. 


35 

It  would  seem  by  the  institution  of  this  feast, 
that  Christ  intended  to  fix  the  eyes  of  his  followers 
constantly  on  the  great  gospel  doctrine,  ''God  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  Avhosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life;  for  God  sent  not 
his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world,  but 
that  the  world,  through  him,  might  be  saved." — 
That  his  death  and  resurrection  was  the  only  foun- 
dation of  their  hope  of  salvation  from  sin,  of  a  glo- 
rious resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  of  eternal 
life.  That  the  frequent  recurrence  of  this  feast 
should  strongl)^  remind  christians  of  the  great  love 
wherewith  Christ  loved  them,  and  gave  himself 
for  them,  to  redeem  them  from  all  iniquity,  and 
their  corresponding  obligation  to  believe  in  him, 
to  love  him  and  keep  his  commandments.  That  as 
the  passover  was  instituted  to  remind  the  Israelites 
of  their  deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage,  so  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  instituted  to  remind  christians 
of  the  means  of  their  deliverance  from  the  bondage 
of  sin;  and  to  encourage  them  to  look  forward  for 
a  full  participation  in  the  benefits  of  this  redemp- 
tion. 

The  commemoration  of  the  sacrificial  death  of 
Christ,  brings  into  view  the  most  important  con- 
siderations to  which  the  mind  of  a  christian  can 
be  directed.  The  various  subjects  for  contempla- 
tion connected  with,  and  involved  in  the  atonement 
made  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  of  such  a 
heavenly  and  saving  character,  as  to  make  it  im- 


36  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

possible  for  a  pious  man  or  woman  to  reflect  upon 
them,  without  having  the  mind  enlightened,  the 
heart  affected,  and  the  life  improved.  In  every 
instance,  when  we  commemorate  the  death  and 
passion  of  our  dear  Redeemer,  it  is  our  duty  and 
privilege  to  dwell  with  prayerful  attention  on  the 
numerous  events,  benefits,  and  corresponding  obli- 
gations growing  out  of  the  unbounded  mercy  and 
goodness  of  God,  in  the  ample  provision  he  has 
made  for  the  present  and  eternal  salvation  of  a 
world  of  sinners  lost;  and  to  have  our  minds  illu- 
minated by  the  heavenly  truths  developed  in  the 
gospel,  and  our  souls  refreshed  in  waiting  on  God 
in  this  most  precious  means  of  grace.  The  sacri* 
ficial  death  of  Christ  has  been  the  great  absorbing 
subject  of  contemplation  to  the  universe.  Men 
and  angels  dwell  upon  it  with  admiration  and  as- 
tonishment; and  it  will  be  the  theme  of  grateful 
adoration  and  praise  through  the  ample  rounds  of 
eternity.  Heaven's  high  arches  will  forever  re- 
sound with  the  doxologies  of  the  redeemed  out  of 
all  nations  and  kindreds  and  peoples  and  tongues; 
"Unto  Him  that  hath  loved  us,  and  washed  us 
from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Father,  to  him 
be  glory  and  dominion,  forever  and  ever." 

The  ancient  worthies  contemplated  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  Messiah  with  becoming  interest  and 
corresponding  hope.  Adam  viewed,  through  the 
vista  of  ages,  as  his  own  descendant  and  Saviour, 
the  Son  of  the  woman  who  should  bruise  the  ser^ 


37 

pent^s  head,  Abraham  saw  Christ's  day  in  the 
promise,  that  in  his  seed  ali  the  nations  of  the  earth 
should  be  blessed;  and  in  the  offering  up  of  Isaac, 
was  presented  to  his  mind,  in  a  figure,  the  vicarious 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  his  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
and  the  increase  of  his  kingdom,  Moses  beheld  in 
the  uplifted  brazen  serpent,  the  type  of  the  cruci- 
fied Saviour;  and  contemplated  him  in  the  prophet 
the  Lord  God  would  raise  up  for  the  people,  to 
whom  the  ends  of  the  earth  might  look  and  be  sa- 
ved. Every  priest  that  served  at  the  altar,  or  en- 
tered the  "most  hoiy  place,"  exhibited  in  the  shed 
and  sprinkled  blood  of  sacrificed  animals,  the  ex- 
pressive types  of  that  atoning  blood  poured  out  on 
Calvary  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  And 
the  prophets,  with  intense  interest,  looked  forward 
to  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  who  would  bring  in 
everlasting  righteousness,  and  be  to  all  nations  the 
salvation  of  God; — of  which  salvation  they  inquired, 
searching  diligently  what  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
which  was  in  them,  did  signify,  when  it  testified 
beforehand  of  His  sufferings  and  of  the  glory  that 
should  follow.  Some  of  these  received  such  clear 
views  of  the  advent,  character,  sufferings,  death, 
resurrection,  and  future  glory  of  the  Messiah,  that 
they  spake  as  though  they  had  lived  after  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Son  of  God.  "Unto  us  a  child  is 
born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given;  the  government  shall 
be  upon  his  shoulder,  and  his  name  shall  be  called 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Ever- 
lasting Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  But,  "He 
4* 


38  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

is  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief."  ^'He  is  brought  as  a 
lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  openeth  not  his  mouth." 
^'The  assembly  of  the  wicked  have  enclosed  me, 
they  pierced  my  hands  and  my  ieet — I  may  tell  all 
my  bones;  they  look  and  stare  upon  me — they 
parted  my  garments  among  them,  and  cast  lots  for 
my  vesture."  "But  he  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities; 
the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  and 
with  his  stripes  we  are  healed."  "When  thou 
shalt  make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,  he  shall 
see  his  seed,  he  shall  prolong  his  days,  and  the 
pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  his  hands." 
To  the  last,  but  not  the  least  of  the  prophets,  it 
was  reserved  to  exclaim:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 

The  birth  of  the  Saviour  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  heavenly  host  who  announced  the  glad 
tidings  to  the  shepherds  of  Bethlehem,  and  ushered 
in  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  with  the  heavenly 
anthem:  "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  good  will  towards  men."  The  wise 
men  of  the  east  fell  prostrate  before  him,  and  pre- 
sented gifts;  gold,  and  frankincense,  and  myrrh. — 
And  the  venerable  Simeon,  who  waited  for  the 
consolation  of  Israel,  to  whom  it  was  revealed  that 
he  should  not  see  death  before  he  should  behold 
the  Lord's  Christ,  took  the  infant  Saviour  up  in 
his  arms,  blessed  God,  and  said:  "Lord,  now  lettest 


39 

thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy 
word;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." — 
At  the  period  of  his  baptism,  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  the  spirit  of  God  descended  upon  him, 
and  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven  cried:  "This  is  my  be- 
loved Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Heaven 
and  earth  appeared  to  rejoice  at  the  introduction  of 
the  anointed  one  who  should  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  poor,  heal  the  broken  hearted,  preach  de- 
liverance to  the  captives,  and  the  acceptable  year  of 
the  Lord,  in  whom  the  prophecies  should  meet 
their  accomplishment:  ^^He  will  come  and  save 
you;  then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened, 
and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  unstopped;  then  shall  the 
lame  man  leap  as  a  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the 
dumb  shall  sing — the  wilderness  and  the  solitary 
places  shall  be  glad,  and  the  desert  shall  blossom 
as  the  rose — and  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall 
return  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting 
joy  upon  their  heads;  they  shall  obtain  joy  and 
gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away." 
But  in  the  awful  hour  when  Christ  on  the  cross 
cried,  "It  is  finished,"  and  dismissed  his  spirit,  the 
heavens  appeared  to  weep,  the  sun  was  darkened, 
the  earth  trembled,  the  rocks  rent;  and  nature, 
clad  in  darkness,  appeared  to  shudder  at  the  sight 
of  Jesus  hanging  lifeless  on  the  cross.  Truly, 
that  was  a  period  of  mourning  and  dismay.  The 
heart-broken  mother  weeps  at  the  foot  of  the  cross, 
and  the  terrified  disciples  are  overwhelmed  with 
apprehension  and  grief;  even  his  enemies,  amid 


40  DESIGN  AND  NATURE 

the   terror   of  the   scene,  are   heard   to   exclaim*. 
*'Surely  this  was  the  Son  of  God." 

But  it  was  impossible  for  death  to  hold  the  Sa- 
viour. On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  the  bands 
of  death  are  loosed;  the  sealed  sepulchre  is  broken; 
for  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  whose  countenance  was 
like  lightning  and  his  raiment  white  as  snow,  de- 
scended from  heaven,  and  rolled  back  the  stone 
from  the  door,  and  said  to  the  w^eeping  women 
who  came  to  mourn  around  the  tomb,  "He  is  risen, 
as  he  said.  Come  see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay; 
and  go  quickly  and  tell  his  disciples,  that  he  is 
risen  from  the  dead^  and  behold  he  goeth  before 
you  into  Galilee."  But  the  triumphs  of  the  resur- 
rection had  not  ceased  here.  After  remaining 
with  his  disciples  forty  days,  and  giving  them 
many  infallible  proofs  of  his  resurrection,  "Jesus 
led  them  forth  as  far  as  Bethany,  and  he  lifted  up 
his  hands  and  blessed  them — and  while  he  blessed 
them,  he  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  in- 
to heaven — and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their 
sight.  And  while  they  looked  steadfastly  towards 
heaven  as  he  went  up,  behold  two  men  stood  by 
them  in  white  apparel,  who  said:  Ye  men  of  Gali- 
lee, why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven?  this 
same  Jesus  who  is  taken  up  into  heaven,  will  so 
come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into 
heaven."  And  hence,  said  John:  "Behold  he 
Cometh  with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  see  him, 
and  they  also  who  pierced  him;  and  all  the  kin- 
dreds of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him." — 


41 

But  unto  the  righteous  shall  he  say:  "Come  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father  and  inherit  eternal  life." 

Since  the  crucifixion,  resurrection  and  ascension 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  all  eyes 
have  been  turned  back  upon  those  interesting 
events,  and  forward  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
declarations  and  promises  of  Almighty  God.  The 
constant  theme  of  all  the  Apostles,  in  every  ser- 
mon, was:  ChHst  crucified — Christ  risen  again 
from  the  dead — Christ  the  wisdom  of  God,  and 
the  power  of  God  to  every  one  that  believeth — and 
Christ  the  judge  of  quick  and  dead;  "the  Alpha 
and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end;  which  is, 
and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the  Almighty." 
For  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  the  martyrs  burnt 
and  bled.  Every  evangelical  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel to  the  present  hour  has  cried:  behold!  behold 
the  Lamb!  And  all  who  have  believed  in  the 
name,  and  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus,  rest  in  hope  of  a 
glorious  resurrection,  and  a  blessed  enjoyment  of 
God  in  heaven,  through  the  atonement  and  resur- 
rection of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  we  who  now 
live  and  believe  in  him,  see,  in  the  most  striking 
manner,  the  enormity  and  heinous  character  of 
sin;  nothing  short  of  the  shed  blood  of  Christ  was 
sufficient  to  remove  its  guilt.  In  this  sacrifice  we 
have  an  exhibition  of  the  great  love  of  God  to  the 
human  family:  "For  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth in  him,  might  not  perish,  but  have  ever 


42  EESIGN  AND  NATURE 

lasting  life."  In  his  voluntary  acts  and  suflferings, 
we  have  ample  evidence  of  the  great  love  where- 
with Christ  loved  us,  and  gave  himself  for  us. — 
"Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man 
lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends."  Do  we  admire 
a  Washington?  We  do.  He  risked  his  life  for 
his  country  and  his  friends ;  but  Jesus  Christ  died 
for  the  world  and  for  his  enemies;  "for,  while  we 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us."  In  this 
offering  we  have  a  proof  of  the  universality  of  the 
redemption:  "For  Christ,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
tasted  death  for  every  man — and  became  a  propitia- 
tion for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  And  in  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead,  we  have  a 
well  founded  hope  of  immortality  for  the  body, 
and  eternal  life  for  the  soul.  Hence  we  may, 
when  contemplating  this  great  subject,  exclaim 
with  the  Apostle:  "Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  according  to  his 
abundant  mercy,  hath  begotten  us  again  to  a  lively 
hope,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead,  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  the  heavens 
for  those  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  unto  salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed 
in  the  last  time." 

When  we  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  con- 
templation of  the  unbounded  love  of  God  to  the 
world,  and  the  great  love  of  Christ  to  the  souls  of 
men;  his  laborious  life,  his  unspeakable  sufferings, 
his   painful   death,  his  glorious    resurrection,  his 


43 

continual  intercession,  should  penetrate  every 
heart,  wind  up  our  affections  to  heaven,  and  prompt 
each  one  to  dedicate  his  soul  and  body  anew  to  the 
service  of  the  living  and  true  God.  We  should 
remember,  that  this  feast  was  of  Christ's  own  ap- 
pointment, that  it  was  instituted  on  the  eve  of  his 
passion,  and  that,  therefore,  the  command,  "Do  this 
in  remembrance  of  me,"  must  be  viewed  as  his 
dying  injunction  to  all  his  believing  followers. — 
Coldness  and  indifference,  therefore,  on  those  occa- 
sions would  be  criminal,  and  sure  marks  of  an  un- 
believing and  ungrateful  heart.  The  act  of  com- 
memoration calls  on  us  for  the  exercise  of  all  the 
liner  feelings  of  the  human  soul;  and  invites  to 
the  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  a  grateful  mind 
and  pious  life.  On  those  occasions,  as  in  the 
use  of  every  other  means  of  grace,  we  have  the 
assurance  that  grace- will  be  communicated  by  the 
immediate  influences  of  God's  Spirit.  Although 
the  Lord's  body  is  not  present,  yet  Christ  is  pre- 
sent in  spirit,  and  waits  to  be  gracious  to  every 
believing,  seeking,  praying  soul.  He  sees  who  of 
his  professed  followers  surround  his  table,  and 
who  turn  their  backs  upon  his  ordinance.  He 
sees  the  grateful  emotions  of  the  hearts  of  those 
who  commemorate  the  dying  love  of  Jesus,  and 
have  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ;  and  he  sees  the  indifference  and 
apathy  of  the  mere  formalist  whose  heart  enters 
not  fully  into  the  contemplation  of  these  things. — 
He  hears  the  prayer  of  faith,  put  up  by  the  believer 


44  DESIGN  AND  NATURE,  &C. 

and  the  penitent,  and  breaks  the  bread  of  life  to 
every  humble,  prayerful  soul.  True  solemnity, 
fervent  prayer,  vigorous  faith,  sincere  gratitude, 
genuine  benevolence,  and  unreserved  dedication 
of  soul  and  body,  should  characterize  the  devotions 
of  every  christian  in  his  approaches  to  the  Lord's 
table.  Thus  shall  we  worthily  and  profitably  keep 
this  feast,  and  bear  our  testimony  to  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus. 

When  I  view  my  Saviour  bleeding. 

For  my  sins,  upon  the  tree; 
Oh  how  wondrous! — how  exceeding 

Great  his  love  appears  to  me! 

Floods  of  deep  distress  and  anguish, 

To  impede  his  labors  came; 
Yet  they  all  could  not  extinguish 

Love's  eternal,  burning  flame. 

Sure  such  infinite  affection 

Lays  the  highest  claim  to  mine; 
All  my  pow'rs,  without  exception. 

Should  in  fervent  praises  join. 

Jesus,  fit  me  for  thy  service; 

Form  me  for  tliyself  alone; 
[  am  thy  most  costly  purchase, 

Take  possession  of  thy  own. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  CANDID  EXAMINATION  OF  THOSE  PASSAGES  OF  SCRIP* 
TURE  WHICH  OCCASIONALLY  RELATE  TO  THE  LORD's 
SUPPER. 

The  first  passage  we  shall  bring  into  view  is 
1  Cor.  chap.  x.  verses  14-21. 

"Wherefore,  my  dearly  beloved,  flee  from  idolatry , 
I  speak  as  to  wise  men;  judge  ye  what  I  say.  The 
cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  com- 
munion of  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of 
Christ?  For  we  being  many  are  one  bread,  and 
one  body;  for  we  are  all  partakers  of  that  one  bread. 
Behold  Israel  after  the  flesh;  are  not  they  which 
eat  of  the  sacrifices  partakers  of  the  altar?  What 
say  I  then?  that  the  idol  is  any  thing?  or  that  which 
is  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols  is  any  thing?  But  / 
say,  that  the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice, 
they  sacrifice  to  devils,  and  not  to  God;  and  I  would 
not  that  ye  should  have  fellowship  with  devils. 
Ye  cannot  drink  the  cup  of  the  Lord,  and  the  cup 
of  devils;  ye  cannot  be  partakers  of  the  Lord's 
table,  and  of  the  table  of  devils." 

The  advocates  of  the  spiritual  and  mysterious 
manducation  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  se- 
lect the  sixteenth  verse  of  this  passage  to  sustain 
their  opinion,  and  so  explain  it,  as  to  make  the  word 
5 


46  ADDITIONAL   PASSAGES 

communion  signify,  to  partake  in  the  sense  of  eat- 
ing and  drinking.  "To  such  as  rightly,  worthily, 
and  with  faith  receive  the  same,  the  bread  which 
we  break  is  a  partaking  of  the  hody  of  Christ;  and 
likewise  the  cup  of  blessing,  is  a  partaking  of  the 
hlood  of  Christ.^"^  And  hence  they  pray:  "Grant 
us,  therefore,  gracious  Lord,  so  to  eat  the  flesh  of 
thy  dear  son  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  drink  his  blood, 
that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made  clean  by  his 
body,  and  our  souls  washed  through  his  most  pre- 
cious blood." 

There  are  several  good  reasons  why  the  term 
communion  in  the  sixteenth  verse,  should  not  be 
explained  to  express  eating  and  drinking  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  in  any  manner  whatever. 

1.  Because  such  an  interpretation  would  turn 
the  verse  into  nonsense. 

The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the 
drinking  of  the  blood  of  Christ.''  The  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  the  eating  of  the  body  of  Christ.'* 
Every  reader  will  see,  at  once,  the  impropriety  of 
this  language;  for  how  can  the  cup  be  the  act  of 
drinking,  and  how  can  the  bread  be  the  act  of 
eating?  To  say  with  Paul:  "For  as  often  as  ye 
eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  show  the 
Lord's  death  till  he  come,"  is  good  figurative  lan- 
guage, because  the  cup,  by  a  well  known  figure 
of  speech,  is  put  for  the  wine  contained  in  it.  But 
to  say  the  cup  is  the  drinking  of  the  blood  of  Christ, 
and  the  bread  is  the  eating  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
is  neither  figurative  nor  plain  sense. 


EXAMINED  AXD  EXPLAINED.         47 

2.  Because  no  writer  in  the  New  Testament  has 
used  the  word  koinonia,  which  is  here  rendered 
communion,  in  the  sense  of  partaking  of  food  or 
nourishment  of  any  kind  or  in  any  manner  what- 
ever. But  the  advocates  of  this  notion  say,  "They 
that  worthily  communicate,  feed  on  his  body  and 
blood,  to  their  spiritual  nourishment.^^ 

3.  Because  it  would  invalidate  the  Apostle's  ar- 
gument. 

For  how  does  it  follow,  because  the  Corinthian 
christians  ate  the  body  and  drank  the  blood  of 
Christ,  that,  therefore,  they  who  ate  with  the  idol- 
aters, of  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  were  guilty  of 
idolatry?* 

4.  Because  it  would  convict  the  Apostle  of  an 
absurd  assertion,  both  as  it  regarded  the  Jews,  and 
those  who  ate  of  idol  sacrifices. 

Paul  says,  in  the  eighteenth  verse,  "Behold  Isra- 
el after  the  fleshy  are  not  they  which  eat  of  the  sa- 
crifices partakers  of  the  altar?"  Now  if  this  word  is 
to  be  rendered  eating,  as  the  advocates  of  mandu- 
cation  explain  the  term  communion  in  the  sixteenth 
verse,  we  make  the  Apostle  say;  those  who  par- 
took of  the  Jewish  sacrifices,  ate  also  a  part  of  the 
altar.     We  make  him  say  the  same  thing  of  those 

*  The  inconclusiveness  of  Dr.  Cudworth's  argument, 
employed  by  himself  and  others,  to  demonstrate,  that  the 
Lord's  Supper,  is  a  feast  upon  a  sacrifice,  has  been  fully  exposed 
and  refuted  by  Mr.  Bell.  An  abstract  of  his  reasoning  may 
be  seen  in  ^'The  Communicant's  Guide,"  published  by  Rev.  J. 
P.  K.  Henshaw,  D.  D.     Page  33. 


48  ADDITIONAL  PASSAGE^S 

who  ate  of  the  idol  sacrifices,   or  rather  worse, 
namely,  that  they  ate  the  substance  of  devils. 

5.  Because  it  would  involve  the  Apostle  in  all 
the  gross  absurdities  of  transubstantiation.  For  if 
we  make  the  term  koinonia,  communion,  signify 
to  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood  of  Christ,  we 
necessarily  make  Paul  teach  the  monstrous  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation.  If  the  Apostle  had  de- 
signed to  inculcate  this  doctrine,  he  would  have 
omitted  the  word  "communion"  altogether,  and 
put  the  questions  thus;  The  cup  of  blessing  which 
we  bless,  is  it  not  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread 
which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  body  of  Christ?  Do 
we  not  all,  by  partaking  of  these,  actually  eat  the 
body  and  drink  the  blood  of  Christ? 

6.  Because  to  assert  that  the  term  communion  iii 
the  sixteenth  verse,  expresses  that  those  who  wor- 
thily eat  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  actually  partake 
of  Christ's  body  and  blood,  spiritually,  by  faith, 
would  be  to  involve  Paul  in  another  absurdity^ 
and  make  him  teach  the  unseriptural  and  unphilo- 
sophical  doctrine,  that  the  glorified  human  body  of 
Christ  "which  is  reserved  in  the  heavens  until  the 
restitution  of  all  things  that  God  hath  spoken  by 
the  mouth  of  his  prophets,"  has  now  become  an 
omnipresent  spirit,  and  may  be  eaten  in  the  sup- 
per with  the  bread,  by  each  and  every  finite  com- 
municant who  has  a  sufficiently  capacious  faith. 

7.  To  interpret  the  term,  here  in  question,  by 
the  following  construction,  "The  cup  of  blessing 
which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  partaking  of  the  ben- 


EXAMINED  AND  EXPLAINED.  49 

EFiTs  p7^ocured  by  the  shed  blood  of  Christ?"  &c. 
would  be  to  present  a  view  utterly  foreign  to  the 
Apostle's  argument.  His  obvious  design  was  to 
convince  the  Corinthian  christians,  that  to  eat 
with  idolaters,  of  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  would 
necessarily  involve  them  in  the  crime  of  idol- 
atry. This  being  his  design,  it  was  not  to  his 
purpose  to  say;  "By  eating  bread  and  drinking 
wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  you  partake  of  the 
BENEFITS  of  Christ's  death;  and,  therefore,  you 
cannot  eat  of  the  heathen  sacrifices."  No  such 
conclusion  could  follow  from  the  premises,  conse- 
quently his  reasoning  would  be  inconclusive. 

The  term  koinonia*  here  rendered  communion, 
signifies,  in  almost  every  passage  where  the  word 
occurs,  fellowships  and  uniformly  expresses  the 
idea  of  some  social  relation,  or,  something  common 
to  a  community  of  persons.  "And  they  continued 
steadfastly  in  the  Apostle's  doctrine  dindi  fellowship, 
{koinonia, )  and  in  breakingof  bread,  and  in  prayers." 
Acts  ii.  42.  "God  is  faithful,  by  whom  ye  were 
called  VLXito  the  fellow  ship,  (koinonia,)  of  his  son,  Je- 
sus Christ  our  Lord." — 1  Cor.  i.  9.  "And  when 
James,  Cephas,  and  John,  who  seemed  to  be  pil- 
lars, perceived  the  grace  that  was  given  unto  me, 
they  gave  to  me  and  Barnabas  the  right  hands  of 
fellowship,'''^  {koinonia.) — Gal.  ii.  9. 

"That  ye  also  may  have  fellowship,  {koinonia,) 

*  The  term  koinonia  is  derived  from  koinonos,  a  partner,  a 
companion,  one  who  takes  part  with  another  in  business,  la- 
bor, sufferings,  &c. 

5* 


50  ADDITIONAL  PASSAGES 

with  uSy  and  truly  our  fellowship,  (koinonia,)  is 
with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ." 
"If  we  say  we  have  fellowshijy,  {koinonia,)  with 
him,  and  walk  in  darkness,  we  lie,  and  do  not  the 
truth.  But  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  he  is  in  the 
light,  we  have  felloivshijj,  (koinonia,)  one  with 
another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son, 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin." — 1  John,  i.  3,  6,  7. 

"What  communion,  {koinonia,  felloivship,)  hath 
light  with  darkness,  and  what  concord  hath  Christ 
with  Belial?  And  what  agreement  hath  the  tem- 
ple of  God  with  idols?"— 2  Cor.  vi.  14,  15. 

"The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
love  of  God,  and  the  communion,  {koinonia,  felloiv- 
ship, abiding  presence,)  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be 
with  you  all." — 2  Cor.  xiii.  14 

Now  if  the  term  koino7iia  were  rendered  in 
each  of  these  passages  by  the  word  partake,  how 
strange  would  be  the  reading.  The  reader  can 
make  the  experiment  for  himself,  by  substituting 
the  word  partake  for  fellow shipt. 

There  are  three  passages  in  the  New  Testament, 
where  the  word  koinonia  is  used  to  express  the 
distribution  of  alms,  or  rather  the  fellowship  collec- 
tions, presented  by  a  society  or  church,  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  poor  saints;  but  the  word  is  no  where  em- 
ployed to  express  the  partaking  of  food  or  nourish- 
ment in  any  way,  or  of  any  kind.  There  are  only 
two  passages  in  addition  to  the  one  under  conside- 
ration, wherein  the  term  koinonia  is  rendered 
communion.     They  are  cited  above,  viz:  2  Cor. 


EXAMINED   AND  EXPLAINED.  51 

vi.  14,  and  2  Cor.  xiii.  14.  By  a  single  glance  at 
the  passages,  every  reader  will  perceive  that  these, 
also,  should  have  been  rendered  felloioshij),  instead 
of  communion;  for,  notwithstanding  our  translators 
have  used  the  two  words  as  synonymous,  yet  there 
was  no  necessity  to  change  the  term  they  had  con- 
stantly employed  in  translating  the  other  passages. 

For  the  same  reason,  the  word  koinonia,  in  the 
passage  under  consideration,  should  also  have  been 
rendered  fellow  ship,  and  the  term  emblem,  symbol, 
sign  or  memorial  supplied  to  make  out  the  sense. 
"The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the 
fellowship  symbol  of  the  blood  of  Christ?  The 
bread  which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  fellowship 
symbol  of  the  body  of  Christ?  /  say  the  fellow- 
ship symbol:  For  we  being  many  are  one  bread, 
that  is  one  body;  and  we  all  partake,  (metechomen,) 
of  one  and  the  same  bread.  By  these  things,  and 
this  social  act,  our  fellowship  is  known  and  ac- 
knowledged to  be  a  christian  community.  We 
jointly  declare  to  the  world  that  our  faith  and  hope 
is  in  Christ  crucified." 

An  attentive  perusal  of  the  whole  passage  will 
clearly  exhibit  the  Apostle's  sense,  and  justify  our 
rendering.  "My  dearly  beloved,  flee  from 
IDOLATRY."  That  debasing  and  corrupting  reli- 
gion of  the  heathen.  Mingle  not  with  her  vota- 
ries. Be  not  allured  by  her  showy  rites  and  pom- 
pous ceremonies.  Partake  not  of  her  sacrifices. 
"For  the  things  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacri- 
fice to  devils,  and  not  to  God;  and  I  would  not  that 


52  AUDITPlONAt,  1»ASSAGS:S 

ye  should  have  fellowship  with  devils."  ^^  I  speak 
as  to  wise  men.^^  To  men  who  are  not  ignorant 
of  the  facts,  that  each  religious  fellowship  is  recog- 
nised by  the  character  of  its  religious  feasts  or  fes- 
tivals; and  that  those  who  partake,  identify  them- 
selves with  that  particular  community  with  whom 
they  eat. 

The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  (and  of 
which  we  drink,)  is  it  not  our  fellowship  memorial 
of  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread  which  we 
break,  (and  eat,)  is  it  not  our  fellowship  memorial 
of  the  body  of  Christ?  For  though  we  be  many, 
we  are,  nevertheless,  one  body,  (or  society  of  be- 
lievers;) and  we  all  partake  (metechomen)  of  the 
same  bread.  Now,  by  keeping  this  feast,  and  all 
eating  and  drinking  of  those  things,  do  we  not 
jointly  declare  ourselves  christians,  and  that  our 
faith  and  hope  rests  on  Christ  crucified^  * 'Behold 
Israel  after  the  flesh,  (the  Jews;)  are  not  they 
which  eat  of  the  sacrifices  partakers  of  the  altar? 
Do  they  not,  by  eating  of  the  sacrifices  offered  on 
God's  altar,  identify  themselves  with  those  who 
serve  at  the  altar,  and  thus  acknowledge  themselves 
to  be  Jews,  and,  consequently,  the  worshippers  of 
God?  And  do  not  they  who  eat  with  them,  by 
that  act,  make  the  same  acknowledgment?  By 
parity  of  reason,  those  who  eat  with  idolaters,  of 
things  sacrificed  to  demons,  are,  by  that  act,  con- 
stituted idolaters.  Now  if  any  of  you,  who  pro- 
fess to  be  christians,  accept  an  invitation  and  eat 
at  a  heathen  feast,  of  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  does 


EXAMINED  AND  EXPLAINED.  53 

not  that  did  necessarily  constitute  you,  professedly, 
idolaters,  and  idolaters  of  the  worst  kind?  "for  the 
things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice 
to  demons,  and  not  to  God."  "And  I  would  not 
that  ye  should  have  fellowship  with  devils,"  and 
idolaters.  Nay,  brethren,  "ye  cannot  drink  the 
cup  of  the  Lord,  and  the  cup  of  devils;  ye  cannot 
be  partakers  (metechien)  of  the  Lord's  table,  and 
the  table  of  devils,"  without  becoming  professed 
idolaters,  renouncing  your  christian  fellowship, 
and  abjuring  your  faith  in  Christ  cr'ucified* 

We  have  only  a  thought  or  two  more  to  add  in 
our  explanation  of  this  passage.  The  phrase,  "The 
cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,"  has  been  pressed 
into  the  service  of  those  who  think  it  necessary  to 
^'consecrate  the  elements ^  Dr.  Macknight  quotes 
the  original,  and  gives,  on  the  best  authority,  the 
following  literal  translation:  "The  cup  for  which 
we  give  thanks  and  praise."  Matthew,  Mark  and 
Paul,  in  their  account  of  the  institution  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  express  this  part  of  the  action  by 
the  word  eucharistesas,  having  given  thanks;  and 
hence  the  service  itself  has  long  borne  the  apella- 

*  We  have  no  objection  to  the  word  communion ,  in  the  six- 
teenth verse  of  this  passage^  provided  the  sense  of  the  origi- 
nal term  be  not  perverted;  and  Paul  made  to  teach,  contrary 
to  his  obvious  design,  a  doctrine  at  variance  with  scripture 
and  common  sense.  Nor  do  we  object  to  the  phrase,  "the 
communion,"  "the  communion  table,"  provided  these  apella« 
tions  are  distinctly  understood  to  express^  simply,  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  Lord's  table.  We  think,  however,  it  would  be 
more  appropriate  always  to  call  them  by  the  latter  name&> 


54  ADDITIONAL  PASSAGES 

tion  of  the  Eucharist,  by  way  of  eminence. — 
Neither  of  the  Apostles,  in  his  account  of  the  in- 
stitution, has  even  intimated,  that  Christ  blessed 
either  the  cup  or  the  bread,  or  directed  his  followers 
to  do  so;  but  each  of  them,  who  has  given  a  particu- 
lar relation  of  this  part  of  the  history,  has  express- 
ed it  by,  he  ^^gave  thanks^ 

The  second  passage  we  shall  cite  as  relating  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  reads: 

<^For  he  that  eateth  and  drinketh  unworthily, 
eateth  and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself,  not  dis- 
cerning the  Lord's  body." — 1  Cor.  xi.  29. 

It  is  said,  Paul  here  teaches,  that  the  body  of 
Christ  is  present  in  the  Supper,  and  those  who  eat 
and  drink  without  discerning  his  body,  eat  and 
drink  unworthily,  and  bring  upon  themselves  dam- 
nation. This  most  extraordinary  view  of  the  pas- 
sage is  truly  alarming,  and,  if  correct,  would  alone 
be  sufficient  to  deter  half  the  christians  in  the  uni- 
verse from  approaching  the  Lord's  table.  There 
is  no  question  but  that  it  has  prevented  thousands. 

To  rescue  the  passage  from  so  wild  a  construc- 
tion, and  to  exhibit  it  in  its  true  import,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  view  it  in  connexion  with  the  pre- 
ceding matter.  The  christians,  at  Corinth,  had 
been  guilty  of  great  improprieties  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper.  '^When  ye  come  to- 
gether, therefore,  in  one  place,  this  is  not  to  eat 
the  Lord's  Supper.  For  in  eating,  every  one 
taketh  before  other,  his  own  Supper;  and  one  is 
hungry,  and  another  is  drunken."— Verses  20,  2L 


EXAMINED  AND  EXPLAINED.  55 

The  import  appears  to  be  this;  When  you  assemble 
in  your  place  of  worship  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper,  you  are  so  intent  on  having  a  feast,  that 
you  lose  sight  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the 
institution,  spend  your  time,  like  the  idolaters, 
in  eating  and  drinking;  and  some  of  you  who  are 
hungry  or  gluttonous,  eat  to  excess;  and  others, 
who  are  fond  of  wine,  drink  to  excess;  and  thus 
sin  against  God,  and  pervert  the  institution  of 
Christ,  making  that  solemn  service  a  part  of  a  com- 
mon feast.  "What,  have  ye  not  houses  to  eat  and 
drink  in  (with  your  friends)  or  despise  ye  the 
church  of  God,"  &c.  In  reference  to  this  great 
perversion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to  the  un- 
worthy and  intemperate  use  of  the  elements,  the 
Apostle  declares,  that  he  who  eateth  and  drinketh 
in  this  unworthy  manner,  ''eateth  and  drinketh 
damnation  to  himself,  not  discerning  the  LorcPs 
bodyf^  that  is,  does  not  distinguish  the  symbols  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  from  common  bread 
and  wine,  as  used  in  an  ordinary  feast,  and  uses 
them  profanely  and  intemperately.  Hence  says 
the  Apostle  in  the  following  verse:  "For  this 
cause,  many  are  weak  and  sickly  among  you,  and 
many  sleep."  Many  among  you  are  diseased  and 
languishing,  and  many  are  dead  in  consequence  of 
God's  displeasure. 

The  Greek  word  here  rendered  ^^ discerning ^''^ 
is  diakrinon^  from  dia^  denoting  separation^  and 
krinOy  to  judge,  importing  to  distinguish,  discrimi- 
nate, or  to  make  a  difference.     Hence  Acts  xv.  b,  9, 


56  ADDITIONAL  PASSAGES 

"And  God,  who  knoweth  the  hearts,  bare  them 
witness,  giving  them  the  Holy  Ghost,  even  as  he 
did  unto  us.  And  put  no  difference  (diekrine)  be- 
tween us  and  them,  purifying  their  hearts  by  faith." 
And  in  Jude,  22d  verse;  "And  of  some  have  com- 
passion, making  a  difference.^'* 

In  the  English  Bible,  printed  in  1568,  this  clause, 
B.  Pearce  informs  us,  is  translated,  "^e  maketh  no 
difference  of  the  Lord^s  hody.^"*  Dr.  Macknight 
paraphrases  the  verse  thus:  "For  he  who  eateth 
and  drinketh  the  Lord's  Supper  improperly  sub- 
jects himself  to  punishment,  because  he  does  not 
disci'iminate  the  symbols  of  the  body  of  the  Lord 
from  the  common  bread  and  wine  designed  for 
the  nourishment  of  life."  Dr.  Whitby's  note  on 
the  word  univorthily  deserves  attention.  "It  sig- 
nifies their  (the  Corinthian  christians)  behaving 
themselves  as  if  they  had  not  considered  that  this 
sacrament  was  instituted  in  thankful  and  practical 
remembrance  of  Christ  dying  for  them,  and  ratify- 
ing by  his  blood  the  covenant  in  which  he  promis- 
ed, to  he  merciful  to  their  iniquities^  and  remember 
their  sins  no  more;  and  as  a  feast  of  love  designed 
equally  for  the  benefit  of  all  his  members,  and  to 
knit  them  in  the  closest  bonds  of  unity  and  friend- 
ship to  each  other.  When  this  was  wanting,  they 
did  not  discern  aright  the  Lord's  body,  or  the  sa- 
crament (symbols)  of  it,  and  so  did  eat  and  drink 
unworthily. ^^ 

To  eat  and  drink  the  bread  and  wine  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  univorthily^  is  to  eat  and  drink  as 


EXAMINED  AND  EXPLAINED.         57 

the  Corintliians  did.  To  eat  the  Supper  without 
reference  to  Christ's  sacrificial  death,  and  to  eat 
and  drink  of  the  symbols  intemperately.  There- 
fore, no  christian  of  our  day  may  have  any  fear  of 
eating  and  drinking  at  the  Lord's  table  unworthily, 
while  he  carefully  distinguishes  between  this  and 
an  ordinary  feast,  endeavors  to  honor  Christ  in 
the  service,  and  uses  the  elements  temperately. 

There  is  a  passage  in  John's  gospel,  which,  at 
first  sight,  appears  very  pointedly  to  favor  the  no- 
tion of  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the  blood  of 
Christ,  hut,  in  reality,  has  no  relation  whatever 
to  the  subject, 

^*Then  said  Jesus  unto  them.  Verily,  verily^  I 
say  unto  you,  except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son 
of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in 
you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  mj 
blood,  hath  eternal  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at 
the  last  day.  For  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and 
my  blood  is  drink  indeed.  He  that  eateth  loy 
flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in  me,  and 
I  in  him." — John,  vi.  53-56. 

This  passage  has  no  relation  whatever  to  the 
Lord's  Supper;  it  was  spoken  one  year  before  the 
institution  of  the  Supper;  and  it  will  be  obvious 
to  every  one  who  reads  the  chapter,  that  eating 
the  flesh  and  drinking  the  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
passage  mean  nothing  more  than  believing  in  him 
with  a  saving  faith.  In  the  40th  verse  Jesus  said^ 
''This  is  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  that  every 
one  who  seeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  him, 
6 


58  ADDITIONAL  PASSAGES 

may  have  everlasting  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up 
at  the  last  day."  Again  in  the  47th  verse:  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  j^ou,  he  that  believeth  in  me 
hath  everlasting  life."  In  the  54th  verse  he  says; 
"Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my  blood, 
hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 
last  day."  Evidently  meaning  as  above,  ''he  that 
believeth  in  me."  The  Jews  very  properly  said, 
''How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat?"  And 
"many  of  his  disciples,  when  they  had  heard  this, 
said;  this  is  a  hard  saying;  who  can  hear  it?" — 
"When  Jesus  knew  in  himself  that  his  disciples 
murmured  at  it,  he  said  unto  them,  Doth  this  of- 
fend you?  What,  and  if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of 
man  ascend  up  where  he  was  before?  It  is  the 
spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  projiteth  nothing: 
the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit, 
and  they  are  life."  They  are  figurative,  and  to 
be  understood  in  a  metaphorical  sense.  It  is  evi- 
dent, from  the  following  verses,  that  the  twelve, 
after  this  explanation,  understood  him  distinctly  to 
mean,  by  eating  and  drinking,  no  more  than  believ- 
ing on  him.  For,  when  many  of  his  followers 
abandoned  him  on  account  of  these  "hard  sayings," 
Jesus  said  to  the  twelve;  "Will  ye  also  go  away? 
Then  Simon  Peter  answered  him.  Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
And  ive  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  So)i  of  the  living  God.'''^ 

The  seventh  and  eighth  verses  of  the  fifth  chapter 
of  1st  Corinthians,  isbrought  to  bear  upon  the  Lord^s 


EXAMINJaD   AND  EXPLAINED.  59 

Supper  for  two  purposes:  first,  to  prove  that  chris- 
tians should  use  unleavened  bread  at  the  Lord's 
table;  and  secondly,  that  as  Christ  is  said  to  be  ^^our 
passover  sacrificed  for  us,"  therefore,  he  is  to  be 
eaten  as  the  Jews  ate  the  Paschal  Lamb. 

In  view  of  the  first  opinion,  that  christians 
should  use  unleavened  bread  at  the  Lord's  table, 
we  will  remark,  there  is  nothing  in  the  passage  to 
favour  the  notion.  The  word  leaven  is  obviously 
used  figuratively,  in  allusion  to  the  contaminating 
example  of  the  incestuous  person,  whom  Paul  di- 
rected the  Corinthians  to  excommunicate.  "Know 
ye  not  that  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 
lump?"  So  one  sinner  tolerated  will  corrupt  a 
whole  society  by  his  bad  example.  "Purge  out, 
therefore,  the  old  leaven,  that  ye  may  be  a  new 
lump."  Excommunicate  that  abominable  person, 
and  suffer  him  not,  as  one  of  your  community,  to 
approach  the  Lord's  table;  and  ^^keep  the  feast  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  not  tvitk  the  old  leaven  of  sen- 
suality and  uncleanness,  with  which  ye  were  for- 
merly corrupted,  neither  ivith  the  leaven  of  malice 
and  ivickedness,  but  with  the  unleavened  (uncor- 
rupted)  qualities  of  sincerity  and  truth.''^ 

As  it  regards  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  at  the 
Lord's  Supper,  we  have  little  to  say,  as  we  believe 
it  a  matter  of  very  small  consequence,  what  kind 
of  bread  is  made  use  of,  leavened  or  unleavened. 
The  most  important  consideration  is,  that  the  leaven 
of  malice  and  wickedness  be  excluded.  We  are 
aware,  however,  that  some  commentators  are  very 


60  ADDITIONAL  t»ASSAGES 

sQlicitous  that  all  christians  should  use  unleavened 
hi'ead  at  the  Lord's  Supper;  hut  as  our  Lord  used 
the  common  bread  of  the  time;  and,  as  neither  he 
nor  his  disciples  have  given  any  specific  directions 
concerning  the  kind  of  bread  and  wine  most  proper 
for  those  occasions,  we  are  disposed  to  consider 
this  a  matter  of  indifference.  Yet,  taking  all  things 
into  consideration,  we  think  the  bread  and  wine 
should  be  of  good  qualities.  Sour,  unwholesome 
bread,  and  rough,  acrid  wine  are  certainly  unfit 
for  any  feast;  and  when  used  at  the  Lord's  table, 
must  be  very  unpleasant. 

In  view  of  the  second  opinion,  namely,  that  be- 
cause Christ  is  said  to  be  ^'■oivr  passover^,  sacrificed 
for  us,^^  therefore,  he  is  to  be  eaten  in  the  Lord's 
Supper,  we  shall  remark,  that  the  advocates  of 
tills  opinion  go  farther  than  the  Jews  did,  for  the 
Jews  only  ate  the  flesh  of  the  lamb,  but  sprinJded 
the  blood  on  the  door  posts  of  their  houses. 

The  phrase,  "Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed 
(slain)  for  us,"  is  obviously  figurative,  and  spoken 
merely  in  allusion  to  the  Jewish  passover.  There 
is  no  analogy  between  the  passover  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  except  so  far  as  they  are  both  commemO' 
rative  of  great  events.  The  passover  was  institu- 
ted in  remembrance  of  the  deliverance  of  the  Israel- 
ites from  Egyptian  bondage,  by  which  act  God 
claimed  them  for  his  people,  especially  the  first 
born.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted  for  the 
remembrance  of  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  by 
wliich  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  may  have  redcmp- 


EXAMINED  AND  EXPLAINED.  61 

tion  through  faith  in  his  blood,  even  the  forgive- 
ness of  their  sins  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 
Neither  is  there  any  analogy  between  the  blood 
of  the  Paschal  Lamb  and  that  of  Christ,  except  so 
far  as  that  blood  was  typical  of  the  blood  of  Christ, 
The  destroying  angel  passed  over  the  houses  mark- 
ed by  the  blood  of  the  Paschal*  Lamb,  and  thus  we 
are  taught  the  divine  displeasure  passes  over  the 
souls  that  believe  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  sub- 
mit to  him  as  their  only  Saviour.  The  passage  is 
obviously  figurative,  and  used  by  the  Apostle  by 
way  of  illustration. 

*The  Passover  was  established  in  commemoration  of  the 
coming-  forth  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  and  was  called 
the  passover  from  the  Hebrew  verb  or  root  Pasach,  which 
signifies  to  pass,  to  skip  or  leap  over,  because  the  night  before 
their  departure  the  destroying  angel,  who.  slew  the  first  born 
of  the  Egyptians,  passed  by  or  over  the  houses  of  the  Israel- 
ites that  were  marked  with  the  blood  of  the  lamb  which  had 
been  killed  the  preceding  evening;  and  for  this  reason^  was 
-cnlled  the  Paschal  Lamb. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AN  ANSWER  TO  THE  QUESTION,  WHAT  PREPARATIONS 
ARE  NECESSARY  AS  IT  REGARDS  THE  ELEMENTS  FOR 
THE  SUPPER,  AND  AS  IT  RESPECTS  THE  COMMUNI- 
CANTS OR  GUESTS? 

As  it  regards  the  elements  for  the  Supper,  we 
are  of  the  opinion,  that  what  is  called  '^consecra- 
ting the  elements^''  is  unauthorised  by  the  word  of 
God,  and  consequently  unnecessary  and  officious. 
Too  much  of  this  obtains  in  almost  every  christian 
church.  The  notion  of  making  things  holy,  or 
rather  of  changing  their  nature  by  consecrationy 
has  been  the  parent  of  many  superstitious  and  ab- 
surd ceremonies.  Almost  every  communion  ser- 
vice we  have  read  is  strongly  tinctured  with  the 
transmuting  notions  of  changing  bread  and  wine 
into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  or  of  making 
them  to  differ  in  their  nature  from  what  they  were 
previously  to  the  consecration  ceremony.  The 
youngest  church  in  Christendom,  except  our  own, 
is  up  to  the  hub  in  this  consecrating  matter.  She 
has  in  her  communion  service  a  ^'prayer  of  conse- 
cration,^^ to  be  repeated  over  the  bread  and  wine 
designed  for  the  Lord's  Supper.  And  while  a 
portion  of  this  prayer  is  repeating,  the  officiating 
minister  is  directed  ^Ho  lay  his  hands  upon  all  the 
bread.^^     And  when  repeating  another  part,  he  is 


WHAT  PREPARATIONS,  &C.  63 

*^/0  lay  his  hands  upon  all  the  vessels  which  con- 
tain the  tvine.^''  And,  he  is  directed:  '^If  the  con- 
secrated hi^ead  and  wine  he  all  spent  before  all  have 
communicated^  the  Elder  may  consecrate  more,  by 
repeating  the  prayer  of  consecration,''''  and  the  lay- 
ing on  of  his  hands  as  above  directed. 

The  practice  of  consecrating  the  elements  for 
the  Lord's  Supper  first  obtained  in  the  dark  ages. 
No  such  thing  was  known  in  the  church  during 
the  first  thousand  years.  It  is  said,  in  Matt.  xxvi. 
26,  "Jesus  took  bread  and  blessed  it."  Dr.  A. 
Clarke,  in  his  note  on  this  passage,  says:  "What 
was  it  that  our  Lord  blessed?  not  the  bread,  though 
many  think  the  contrary,  being  deceived  by  the 
word  IT,  which  is  improperly  supplied  in  our  ver- 
sion, but  God,  the  dispenser  of  every  good. — 
No  blessing,  therefore,  of  the  elements  is  here 
intended;  they  were  already  blessed,  in  being  sent 
as  a  gift  of  mercy  from  the  bountiful  Lord;  but 
God  the  sender  is  blessed,  because  of  the  liberal 
provision  he  has  made  for  his  worthless  creatures. 
Blessing  and  touching  the  bread,  are  merely  Popish 
ceremonies,  unauthorised  either  by  Scripture,  or 
the  practice  of  the  pure  church  of  God;  necessary 
of  course  to  them  who  pretend  to  transmute,  by  a 
kind  of  spiritual  incantation,  the  bread  and  wine 
into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ:  a 
measure,  the  grossest  in  folly  and  most  stupid  in 
nonsense,  to  which  God  in  judgment  ever  aban- 
doned the  fallen  spirit  of  man." 

We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  say, 


64  WHAT  p;reparations 

that  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  has  no  con- 
secrating ceremony  in  her  communion  service;  nor 
does  she  direct  her  ministers  to  lay  their  hands,  by 
way  of  consecration,  on  the  bread  and  wine  used 
in  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  form  of  prayer  to  be 
repeated  by  our  ministers  in  the  administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  is  calculated  and  designed  to 
prepare  the  mind  and  heart  for  a  grateful  and  wor- 
thy reception,  and  to  implore  the  divine  mercy 
and  benediction.  It  would  seem  that  some  appro- 
priate form  of  sound  words  is  proper  on  those  oc- 
casions, to  guide  the  mind  and  lead  the  heart 
into  a  suitably  pious  train  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion. Our  own  experience  and  practice  has  fully 
confirmed  us  in  the  opinion,  that  it  is  always  best 
to  follow  the  form  prescribed.   ^ 

The  only  necessary  preparation,  in  the  elements, 
after  giving  thanks  to  God  for  the  unspeakable 
gift  of  his  Son  for  the  redemption  of  the  world,  is, 
that,  in  obedience  to  Christ's  command  and  exam- 
ple, we  break  the  bread  and  distribute  it;  and  then 
pour  out  the  wine  and  hand  the  cup  with  an  ap- 
propriate exhortation. 

The  forms  of  words  recommended  in  our  formu- 
lary are:  Take,  eat  this  in  remembrance  that 
Chnsfs  body  loas  broken  for  you;  for  while  ive 
were  yet  sinners^  Christ  died  for  us,  and  became 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only, 
but  for  the  sins  of  the  ivhole  ivorld.  On  presenting 
the  cup:  Drink  ye  all  of  this,  in  grateful  remem- 
brance, that  the  blood  of  Christ  was  shed  for  you; 


ARE  NECESSARY.  65 

for  ye  toere  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things, 
but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Chr^ist,  in  whom  we 
have  redemption,  through  faith,  even  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins,  and  the  sanctification  of  our 
souls. 

The  officiating  ministers,  however,  are  not  ex- 
pected to  confine  themselves  exclusively  to  the 
words  of  the  form,  but  after  announcing  the  form 
to  the  first  person  served  with  the  bread  or  wine, 
as  the  case  may  be,  they  are  at  liberty  to  add  such 
remarks  and  exhortations  as  are  suitable  to  the  oc- 
casion. The  framers  of  our  service  have,  in  view 
of  this  liberty,  put  down  several  passages  of  scrip- 
ture to  lead  the  minds  of  ministers  into  a  train  of 
profitable  and  appropriate  reflections  and  remarks. 
These  have  always  a  good  effect;  they  serve  to  as- 
sist the  minds  of  the  people  in  their  meditations 
on  the  unbounded  love  of  God  in  the  gift  of  his 
Son,  and  their  corresponding  obligations  to  love 
him,  and  keep  his  commandments;  and  they  con- 
tribute largely  to  the  spirituality  and  devotion  of 
the  occasion. 

Breaking  the  bread  is  a  necessary  and  significant 
part  of  this  solemn  rite.  It  is  mere  trifling  to 
say,  that  "breaking  the  cakes  of  unleavened  bread 
was  the  most  convenient  mode,  and,  therefore,  our 
Lord  broke  the  bread."  It  is  very  evident  that 
Christ  designed  to  fix  the  attention  of  his  disciples 
on  the  act  of  breaking  the  bread,  for  the  purpose 
of  ever  after  calling  up  to  the  minds  of  his  follow- 
ers his  ignominious  death  on  the  cross;  hence  he 


66  WHAT  PREPARATIONS 

said,  ^'Take,  eat;  this  broken  bread  represents  my 
body  which  is  to  be  broken  for  you;  this  do  in  re- 
membrance of  me."  That  is,  imitate,  hereafter, 
what  you  now  see  me  perform.  Take  bread  and 
break  it  in  token  of  the  violence  which,  in  a  few 
hours,  will  be  inflicted  on  my  body,  the  sacrificial 
offering  for  sin;  and  eat  the  bread  broken  in  re- 
membrance of  my  great  sufl"erings  and  violent 
death  on  the  cross.  Whitby  very  justly  remarks, 
that  "where  no  body  broken  is  distributed,  there 
nothing  can  be  eaten  in  memorial  of  his  broken 
body.  Hence  it  was  that  distributing  bread  bro- 
ken continued  for  a  thousand  years;  and  was  ob- 
served even  in  the  Romish  Church  in  the  eleventh 
century." 

We  should  be  highly  gratified  to  see  this  scrip- 
tural and  primitive  practice  of  breaking  the  bread 
obtain,  in  all  the  Protestant  Methodist  Churches,  as 
uniformly  as  in  all  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in 
the  world.  The  prevailing  and  universal  custom 
among  Methodists,  of  cutting  the  bread  into  small 
pieces,  takes  away  from  this  part  of  the  service  its 
main  feature  of  expression  and  signification,  if,  in- 
deed, \i  be  not  a  careless  disregard  of  Christ's  posi- 
tive command. 

2.  The  preparation  in  the  guests. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  too  little  attention  is  given 
by  many  christians  to  a  preparation  for  a  worthy 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Some  appear 
to  be  reminded  of  the  feast  only  by  a  sight  of  the 
table;  and  others  feel  so  much  indifference  about 


ARE  NECESSARY.  67 

it,  that  they  can,  after  sermon,  turn  their  backs 
upon  the  Lord's  table,  and  hasten  home  to  eat  at 
their  own  tables  of  what  to  them  is  more  accepta- 
ble, and  requires  less  sacrifice  and  devotion  from 
their  ungrateful  hearts.  We  are  sorry  to  be  com- 
pelled to  say,  that  we  have  observed  among  Metho- 
dist ministers,  both  Protestant  and  Episcopal,  a 
marked  indifference  in  relation  to  a  preparation  for 
the  celebration  of  this  ordinance.  While  the 
ministers  of  other  churches  take  particular  pains, 
even  in  the  preceding  week,  to  impress  on  the 
minds  of  their  fellowship  the  nature  and  solemn 
character  of  the  approaching  festival,  and  thus  pre- 
pare their  minds  and  hearts  for  a  worthy  reception, 
Methodist  ministers,  in  too  many  instances,  scarcely 
so  much  as  advert  to  the  occasion.  This,  to  say 
the  least  of  it,  is  a  culpable  neglect,  on  the  part  of 
those  servants  whom  God  hath  appointed  to  wait 
on  his  people,  and  minister  in  holy  things.  In- 
deed, it  often  happens,  that  on  the  very  day  of  the 
celebration,  the  minister  scarcely  condescends  to 
notice  his  master's  table,  or  invite  attention  to  the 
solemn  ordinance,  until  after  he  has  dismissed  the 
congregation.  Then  he  briefly  informs  the  society 
that  the  '^sacrament"  will  be  administered,  and 
perhaps  gives  an  invitation  to  those  in  good  stand- 
ing in  their  own  churches  to  tarry  and  partake. 

But  to  the  question,  what  preparation  is  neces- 
sary in  the  communicants?  The  first  thing  neces- 
sary, we  apprehend,  is,  that  they  understand  the 
nature  and   design   of  the   institution,     W^ithout 


68  WHAT   PREPARATIONS 

this,  they  cannot  partake  so  profitably  as  thosB 
who  have  a  clear  perception  of  the  nature  of  the 
ordinance.  What  confusion  must  hang  about  the 
minds  of  those  who  are  taught,  that  they  are  to 
approach  the  table  of  the  Lord  and  feed  on  his 
body  and  drink  his  blood  by  faith?  What  terror 
must  be  excited  in  the  hearts  of  the  timid  but  sin- 
cere believers,  who  are  informed,  that  unless  they 
discern  the  Lord's  body  in  the  Supper,  according 
to  the  mystical  notion  of  the  preacher,  they  will 
partake  unworthily,  and  eat  and  drink  damnation? 
The  second  thing  necessary  is,  that  the  commu- 
nicants examine  themselves.  ''Let  a  man  examine 
himself,  and  so  let  him  eat  of  that  bread,  and  drink 
of  that  cup."  Let  him  examine  himself,  First, 
whether  his  motives  are  pure,  whether  his  design 
in  approaching  the  table,  is  to  keep  up  the  memory 
of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection.  Secondly, 
whether  he  is  moved  to  do  this  by  a  sense  of  grati- 
tude to  God  for  the  great  love  wherewith  he  loved 
the  world.  And,  Thirdly,  whether  he  comes  with 
a  firm  purpose  of  doing  honor  to  Christ  by  living 
ill  all  respects  conformably  to  his  precepts  and  ex- 
ample. There  can,  however,  be  no  better  moral 
preparation  for  a  reception  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
than  a  habit  of  piety;  an  every  day  contemplation 
of  the  immense  obligations  we  are  laid  under  by 
divine  goodness,  and  a  habitual  dedication  of  soul 
and  body  to  the  service  of  God.  Yet  as  we  are 
prone  to  forgetfulness,  lukewarmness,  ingratitude 
and  formality,  it  becomes  necessary  on  those  extra 


ARE  NECESSARY.  69 

occasions,  to  institute  a  particular  examination  into 
our  motives,  desires,  tempers  and  purposes;  and 
to  rouse  up  our  souls  by  a  special  contemplation  of 
the  great  love  wherewith  Christ  loved  us  and  shed 
his  blood  for  us,  that  our  faith  and  love  may  be  in- 
creased; and  "that  we  may  worthily  and  profitably 
commemorate  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

05  the  rich  depths  of  love  divine^ 

Of  bliss,  a  boundless  store! 
Dear  Saviour,  let  me  call  thee  mine; 

I  cannot  wish  for  more. 

On  thee  alone  my  hope  relies, 

Beneath  thy  cross  I  fall; 
My  Lord,  my  life,  my  sacrifice. 

My  Saviour,  and  my  alL 


CHAPTER  V. 

AN  ANSWER    TO    THE   QUESTION,  WHO    MAT    PARTAKE    OF 
THE    lord's    supper. 

To  answer  this  question  fairlj,  we  must  view 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  means  of   grace.      Our 
church  haSj  with  great  propriety,  recognized  this 
ordinance  as  a  means  of  grace.     There  can  be  no 
question  that  our  Lord  designed  it  to  be  such  to 
all  his  followers,  as  well  as  a  commemorative  feast. 
All  the  Jewish  commemorative  feasts  were  accom- 
panied  with    acts   of   devotion,   such   as    prayer, 
thanksgiving,  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
offerings,  &c.     And  our  Lord  certainly  intended 
that  his  feast,  held  in  commemoration  of  the  most 
important   event   that  ever  took   place  since  the 
creation  of  man,  and  productive  of  the  most  stu- 
pendous benefits  to  his  creatures,  should  be  accom- 
panied by  the  liveliest  expressions  of  gratitude  and 
devotion.     That  in  the  right  apprehension  of  the 
inestimable  gift  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  great 
love  wherewith  Christ  loved  us  and  gave  himself 
for  us,  every  soul  should  be  penetrated,  humbled, 
exalted,  and  blessed  with  the  visitations  of  divine 
mercy  and  favour;  and  be  induced,  from  a  contem- 
plation of  the  unbounded  goodness  and  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  make  an  entire  dedication 
of  soul  and  body  to  his  service. 


WitO  MAY  PARTAKE.  71 

When  we  contemplate  the  Supper,  however,  as 
a  means  of  grace,  we  do  not  allow  it  to  have  any 
grace  in  and  of  itself  which  is  communicated  to  those 
who  partake,  for  this  opinion  would  necessarily 
carry  us  away  into  the  absurdities  of  transubstan- 
tiation  or  consubstantiation;  but  we  hold,  that  it 
is  a  means  whereby  every  gracious  principle  may 
be  increased  and  strengthened  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  use  it  understandingly  and  rightly. — 
For  example:  one  man  approaches  the  Lord's  table 
without  understanding  the  nature  and  design  of 
the  ordinance,  without  gratitude,  without  self- 
examination,  without  prayer,  without  faith  in  the 
word  and  promises  of  God,  without  a  firm  purpose 
of  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of  God;  he  takes 
the  bread,  he  drinks  the  wine^  and  retires  to  his 
seat  in  the  church  with  a  hard,  insensible  heart. 
To  this  man  the  Lord's  Supper  has  been  no  means 
of  grace.  His  heart  has  not  been  penetrated  and 
softened — his  affections  have  not  been  lifted  up  to- 
ward heaven,  where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand 
of  God — his  will  has  not  been  subdued,  but  he  re- 
mains the  same  ungrateful  and  stupid  formalist  he 
was  before  he  approached  the  Lord's  table. 

Another  man  draws  nigh  to  his  Master's  table. 
He  has  informed  his  mind  on  the  true  meaning  of 
the  service.  He  has  examined  himself  on  motives, 
intentions,  and  future  purposes.  He  comes  with 
prayer,  beseeching  God  to  enable  him  to  use  this 
means  of  grace  properly  and  worthily.  He  ap- 
proaches in  faith,  believing  the  record  of  the  Son 


72  WHO  MAY  PARTAKIG 

of  God.  He  contemplates  him  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  and  beholds  him  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  and  sees  him  agonize  till  his  sweat  be- 
come as  great  drops  of  blood.  He  follows  him  to 
Pilate's  hall,  and  witnesses  the  scourgers  make 
long  furrows  in  his  sacred  back.  He  sees  him 
labouring  up  the  steep  ascent  of  Calvary,  bearing 
his  cross,  while  the  infuriated  rabble  cry  behind 
him:  away  with  him,  away  with  him;  crucify 
him!  He  beholds  him  extended  on  the  cross,  and 
hears  the  nails  driven  through  his  hands  and  his 
feet,  and  beholds  him  hang  between  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  the  victim  for  sin,  "the  Lamb  of 
God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  He 
believes  the  sacrifice  was  made  for  him  and  for  all; 
his  heart  is  penetrated  with  love  and  gratitude; 
his  soul  is  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the  un- 
bounded goodness  and  mercy  of  God  in  the  gift  of 
his  Son;  and  while  he  meditates,  as  it  were,  be- 
neath the  cross,  and  "hears  his  Saviour's  dying 
groans,  and  sees  his  gushing  blood"  he  cries:  for 
me,  for  me  the  Saviour  dies!  This  man  partakes 
of  the  memorials  of  the  broken  body  and  shed 
blood  of  Christ  with  emotions  of  unspeakable  grati- 
tude, and  retires  to  his  seat  in  the  church  with  his 
heart  melted  into  tenderness  and  his  soul  refresh- 
ed; for  he  has,  while  commemorating  the  dying 
love  of  Jesus,  had  sweet  intercourse  and  "fellow- 
ship with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  To  this  man  the  Lord's  Supper  has  in- 
deed been  a  means  of  grace;  for  in  the  proper  un» 


OF  THE  lord's  SUPPER.  73 

derstanding  and  right  use  of  it,  it  has  been  to  him 
a  means  of  increasing  his  gratitude  to  God,  his  love 
to  Christ,  his  love  to  the  brethren,  and  of  winding 
up  his  affections  to  things  heavenly  and  divine. 

Viewing  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  means  of  grace, 
we  are  prepared  to  say,  that  every  one  who  sin- 
cerely desires  to  flee  the  wrath  to  come,  and  save 
his  soul  alive,  to  look  unto  Jesus  Christ  for  salva- 
tion, and  to  acknowledge  his  death  as  a  sacrificial 
offering,  and  eat  the  Supper  in  remembrance  of 
God's  love  to  him  in  sending  his  Son  into  the 
world,  may  partake,  yea,  has  a  right  to  partake  of 
this  feast.  This  of  course  will  include  every  sin- 
cere seeker  of  religion,  the  broken-hearted  peni- 
tent, as  well  as  the  man  who  loves  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  walks  in  all  the  commandments  of  God 
blameless. 

Some  persons  think  themselves  too  unworthy  to 
partake  of  so  holy  an  ordinance,  and  others  think 
if  they  do  partake  they  will  not  in  future  be  able 
to  live  so  blameless  a  life  as  the  gospel  requires; 
and,  therefore,  they  will  bring  upon  themselves 
the  condemnation  of  eating  and  drinking  unwor- 
thily; hence,  many  serious  and  well  meaning  per- 
sons are  deterred  from  approaching  the  Lord's  table. 
Both  of  these  notions  are  founded  on  false  views  of 
the  nature  and  design  of  the  Supper.  The  first 
suppose  the  ordinance  to  be  composed  of  something 
more  than  bread  and  wine.  That  there  is  some 
mysterious  and  invisible  presence  which  makes  it 
too  holy  to  be  eaten  by  such  poor  unworthy  sinful 
7* 


k 


74  WHO  MAY  PARTAKE 

creatures  as  they  are;  or  that  some  particular  and 
extraordinary  act  of  faith  is  necessary  to  a  right 
reception,  of  which  they  are  incompetent.  The 
second  view  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  light  of  a 
sacramental  oath,  or  as  swearing  allegiance  to  hea- 
ven's King,  that  they  will  henceforth  forever  per- 
fectly obey  all  his  commandments;  and,  therefore, 
they  are  afraid  of  involving  themselves  in  spiritual 
perjur3\  To  the  first  we  w^ould  say:  viewing  this 
ordinance  as  a  means  of  grace,  and  a  commemora- 
tive feast,  you  have  nothing  to  fear.  Here  is  no 
transubstantiation,  no  consubstantiation,  no  myste- 
rious eating  and  drinking  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ.  These  elements  are  bread  and  wine,  and 
you  are  invited,  yea,  commanded  to  take  these  in 
remembrance  of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection. — 
If  you  feel  unworthy,  w^e  say  to  you:  O  yes,  you 
are  unw^orthy  of  every  good  thing  you  enjoy;  of 
the  food  you  eat;  of  the  raiment  you  put  on;  of 
the  houses  you  inhabit;  of  your  civil  privileges; 
of  all  your  religious  means,  and  of  heaven's  best 
gift,  the  Son  of  God,  who  tasted  death  for  you,  and 
for  the  world;  but  let  not  your  unworthiness  hin- 
der you  from  obeying  God;  let  it  not  keep  you 
from  the  table  of  the  Lord,  who  loved  you  and 
gave  himself  for  you;  and  commanded  you  to  do 
this  in  remembrance  of  him.  Your  attention  to 
this  service,  while  it  excites  your  gratitude,  will 
increase  your  love,  and  renew  your  spiritual 
strength;  and  by  the  assisting  grace  of  God,  you 
will  be  enabled  to  keep  all  his  commandments. 


75 

In  view  of  the  second  difficulty  we  would  re- 
mark, that  it  is  probable  many  persons  have  im- 
bibed very  erroneous  notions  of  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  Lord's  Supper  from  the  frequent  use 
of  the  term  "sacrament."  This  term  is  not  found 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  word  sacr amentum^ 
from  which  it  is  derived,  properly  signifies  a  mili- 
tary oath,  taken  by  the  Roman  soldiers  to  obey 
their  commander.  It  is  of  pagan  origin,  and  con- 
veys an  idea  totally  foreign  to  our  Lord's  design 
w^hen  he  instituted  the  Supper.  It  would  have 
been  well  if  the  term  had  never  been  applied  to 
the  Lord's  Supper,  for  it  is  neither  scriptural  nor 
appropriate.* 

*  We  are  indebted  to  the  Papists  for  the  use  of  the  term 
SACRAMENT.  In  their  rites,  ceremonies,  and  translations,  the 
term  is  of  very  frequent  recurrence.  They  have,  ''the  sacra- 
ment of  baptism,"  "the  sacrament  of  confirmation,"  "the  sa- 
crament of  the  mass,"  "the  sacrament  of  penance,"  "the  sa- 
crament of  orders,"  "the  sacrament  of  matrimony,"  "the  sa- 
crament of  extreme  unction,"  "the  sacrament  of  God's  wilV 
"the  sacrament  of  piety,"  "the  sacrament  of  a  dream,"  "the 
sacrament  of  the  seven  stars,"  "the  sacrament  of  the  woman," 
&c.  &Q.  They  use  the  term  as  expressive  of  an  oath,  and 
also  of  a  mystery,  although  it  cannot,  with  any  degree  of  pro- 
priety, be  put  for  mystery.  Some  ecclesiastical  writers  of 
the  third  century,  however,  rendered  the  word  musterion  by 
sacr amentum,  and  this  gave  rise  to  the  definition  of  a  sacra- 
ment, as  the  visible  sign  of  an  inward  grace.  Now  when  this 
definition  is  applied  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  it  unavoidably  leads 
to  transubstantiation,  or  supposes  some  virtue  or  grace  in  the 
consecrated  bread  and  wine,  which  is  received  by  eating  the 
one,  and  drinking  the  other. 


i 


76  WHO  MAT  PARTAKE. 

We  do  not  here  mean  to  say,  that  he  who  par- 
takes of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  under  no  obligation 
to  keep  the  commandments  of  God.  Very  far 
from  it.  Every  individual  is  under  obligation  to 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  obey  the  gospel 
of  God  our  Saviour  so  long  as  he  lives.  But  we 
mean  to  say,  that  the  act  of  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  not  swearing  allegiance,  or  performing 
a  ceremony  tantamount  to  an  oath  of  allegiance. — 
It  is  the  commemoration  of  the  dying  love  of  Jesus. 
It  is  a  public  declaration  of  our  belief  of  that  fact, 
and  of  our  reliance  on  his  merits  alone  for  salva- 
tion. It  is  a  means  by  which  we  expect  all  the 
finer  feelings  of  our  souls  to  be  brought  into  lively 
exercise,  and  by  the  use  of  which  we  may,  through 
faith  and  prayer,  draw  nigh  to  God,  and  thus  be 
more  fully  assimilated  into  the  divine  likeness. — 
We  need,  therefore,  have  no  fear  of  oaths,  or  spi- 
ritual perjury.  The  Lord,  at  the  institution  of 
his  Supper,  exacted  no  oaths  of  his  disciples.  His 
command  was,  and  is,  "Do  this  in  remembrance  of 
me."  And  his  servant  Paul  said:  "As  often  as  ye 
eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  show  the 
Lord's  death  till  he  come."  We  have,  therefore, 
no  more  reason  to  dread  this  means  of  grace  than 
we  have  to  dread  any  other.  We  might,  with 
equal  propriety,  fear  to  enter  our  closets  and  pray 
in  private — to  hear  the  word  of  God  preached — 
or  to  use  any  other  means  of  grace. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AN    ANSWER    TO    THE    QUESTION,     WHAT    ATTITUDE    ARE 
CHRISTIANS    TO    TAKE    AT    THE    LORD's    TABLE. 

Some  have  said  they  should  stand  upon  their 
feet;  others,  that  they  should  be  seated;  and  others 
again,  that  they  should  kneel.  As  our  Lord  gave 
no  directions  in  relation  to  the  posture  to  be  taken 
at  his  table,  we  are  to  seek  for  the  attitude  in  ex- 
ample and  not  in  precept.  We  will,  therefore, 
endeavor  to  find  out  the  attitude  taken  by  our 
Lord  and  his  disciples  w^hen  he  instituted  the  Sup- 
per. It  will  be  recollected  that  they  had  just 
finished  eating  the  passover,  and  in  all  probability 
had  not  changed  their  position  at  table.  Let  us 
try  to  ascertain  the  attitude  taken  by  the  Jews 
when  in  the  act  of  eating  the  passover.  The  di- 
rections given  by  Jehovah  at  the  institution  of  this 
feast,  are:  '^And  thus  shall  ye  eat  it,  your  loins 
girded,  your  shoes  on  your  feet,  and  your  stafi*  in 
your  hand;  and  ye  shall  eat  it  in  haste;  it  is  the 
Lord's  passover." — Exod.  xii.  11.  At  first  sight 
it  would  seem  that  the  Israelites  stood  on  their  feet 
when  they  ate  the  passover,  as  they  were  equipt 
like  travellers,  and  ate  in  haste;  but  there  is 
nothing  in  the  text  to  warrant  this  conclusion. — 
And  as  they  were  not  to  go  outside  of  their  doors 
till  morning,  the  probability  is,  that  they  ate  the 


k 


78  PRIMITIVE  ATTITUDE 

passover  seated  at  table,  as  they  did  their  ordinary 
meals;  for  this  was  the  custom  before  and  long 
after  that  period.  A  passage  or  two  will  prove 
that  this  was  the  Jewish  custom  in  olden  times: 
"And  they  took  Joseph  and  cast  him  into  a  pit — 
and  they  sat  down  to  eat  bread." — Gen.  xxxvii.  25. 
"And  the  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink, 
and  rose  up  to  play." — Exod.  xxxii.  6.  "So  Da- 
vid hid  himself  in  the  field;  and  when  the  new 
moon  was  come,  the  king  sat  down  to  eat  meat. — 
And  the  king  sat  upon  his  seat,  as  at  other  times, 
even  upon  a  seat  by  the  wall,  and  Jonathan  arose, 
and  Abner  sat  by  Saul's  side,  and  David's  place 
was  empty." — 1  Sam.[xx.  24.  In  each  of  these  pas- 
sages, the  Hebrew  word  employed  is  yashab,  to  sity 
which  was  the  universal  custom  of  the  Israelites, 
up  to  the  Babylonish  captivity. 

But  was  this  the  attitude  of  our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  when  he  instituted  the  Supper.?  We  be- 
lieve it  was  not;  and  that  they  reclined  at  table 
according  to  the  prevailing  custom  of  the  Jews  of 
that  time.  There  is  a  circumstance  related  by 
John  which  casts  much  light  on  our  inquiry. — 
While  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  eating  the 
passover,  he  said:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
that  one  of  you  shall  betray  me.  Then  the  disci^ 
pies  looked  one  upon  another,  doubting  of  whom 
he  spake.  Now  there  was  leaning  on  Jesus'  bo- 
som one  of  his  disciples,  whom  Jesus  loved.  Si- 
mon Peter,  therefore,  beckoned  to  him,  that  he 
should  ask  who  it  should  be  of  whom  he  spake. 


79 

He  then,  reclining  on   Jesus'  breast,  saith  unto 
him,  Lord,  who  is  it?" — Jno.  xiii.  21-25.     This 
passage  proves,  most  conclusively,  that  Jesus  and 
his  disciples  ate  the  passover  in  the  reclining  atti- 
tude.    They  doubtless  conformed,  in  this  particu- 
lar, to   the  custom  of  the  people  and  country  in 
which  they  lived.     Long  before  the  appearance  of 
Christ  among  the  Jews,  they  had  fully  abandoned 
the  ancient  custom  of  their  fathers  of  sitting  when 
they  ate,  and  had  adopted  the  fashion  of  the  eastern 
nations,  which  was  to  recline  at  table.     It  is  pro- 
bable the  Jews  learnt  this  practice  from  the  Assy- 
rians in  Babylon,  during  their  seventy  years'  cap- 
tivity.    Some,  however,  think  they  learnt  it  from 
the  Greeks  or  Romans.     Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is 
certain   that  reclining  at  table  was  the  universal 
custom  of  the  Jews  in  our  Lord's  day.     And  we 
need  not  be  astonished  at  this  great  change  of  at- 
titude among  a  people  so   tenacious  of  the  legal 
customs  of  their  fathers;   for   the   law   no  where 
prohibited  reclining  at  meat,  nor  did  it  enjoin  sit- 
ting, so  that  sitting  and  reclining  were  matters  of 
indifference;  and,  of  course,  were  regulated   by 
taste  and  example.     Here  a  consideration  may  be 
offered  in  justification  of  our  Lord's  eating  the  pass- 
over  in  a  reclining  posture,  which  is,  that  in  con- 
sequence  of  so  great  an  annual  influx  of  Jews, 
to   Jerusalem,   from   all   parts   of    Palestine    and 
elsewhere,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  feast, 
many   rooms,  suitably   furnished,  were   kept   by 
their  owners  to  hire  for  the  occasion.     It  would 


80  PRIMITIVE  ATTITUDE 

seem  that  the  apartment  wherein  our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  ate  the  passover  was  of  this  description, 
and  had  been  engaged  for  that  purpose.  Peter 
and  John  were  directed  to  go  into  the  city  to  a 
certain  house,  and  "say  to  the  good  man  of  the 
house,  the  master  saith  unto  thee,  where  is  the 
guest-chamber,  where  I  shall  eat  the  passover  with 
my  disciples,  and  he  will  show  you  a  large  upper 
room  flemished,  there  make  ready. "-Luke  xxii.  10. 
Mark  says,  ^furnished  and  prepared^  Doubtless 
the  furniture  of  this  room  consisted  of  a  table,  and 
couches  for  reclining  at  meat.  In  this  room,  thus 
"prepared,"  Jesus  and  his  disciples  reclined  and 
ate  the  passover  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  making  use  of  the  ordinary  furniture 
with  which  the  room  w^as  provided. 

It  is,  however,  objected  that  three  of  the  Evan- 
gelists say,  Jesus  sat  doivn  with  his  disciples  to 
eat  the  passover.  "Now  when  the  even  was  come, 
he  sat  down  with  the  twelve." — Matt.  xxvi.  20. 
"And  as  they  sat  and  did  eat,  Jesus  said,  Verily  I 
say  unto  you;  one  of  you  that  eateth  with  me  shall 
betray  me." — Mark  xiv.  18.  "And  when  the  hour 
was  come,  he  sat  down,  and  the  twelve  apostles 
with  him." — Luke  xxii.  14.  In  reply  to  this  ob- 
jection it  is  only  necessary  to  inform  our  readers 
that  in  the  first  and  second  passages  cited,  the 
original  reads,  "he  reclined,^^  (anekieto,)  And  in 
the  third  one,  "/ie  laid  down,^^  (anepese,)  In  addi- 
tion to  this  we  will  remark,  that  in  all  the  passa- 
ges  which  give  an  account  of  the  miraculous  feed- 


81 

ing  of  the  multitudes  in  the  desert,  with  a  few 
loaves  and  fishes,  the  words  rendered  by  our  trans- 
lators to  sit  doivn,  read  in  the  original  to  lie  down, 
or  recline.  Take  Jno.  vi.  10,  as  an  example:  "And 
Jesus  said,  make  the  men  sit  down,  (anapesein,  to 
lie  down,)  Now  there  was  much  grass  in  the 
place,  so  the  men  sat  down,  (anapeson,  laid  down,) 
in  number  about  five  thousand."  It  is  proper  here 
to  say,  that  our  translators  are  not  chargeable  with 
ignorance  of  the  true  import  of  the  words  they 
were  translating;  they  purposely  accommodated 
the  passages  to  the  custom  of  the  western  nations, 
who  do  not  recline  as  the  eastern  people,  but  sit 
at  meals.  In  all  cases  where  sitting  was  the  atti- 
tude, we  have  a  very  different  word.  "And  seeing 
the  multitudes,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain,  and 
when  he  was  set,  (kathesantos,)  his  disciples  came 
\jinto  him,"  &c.— Matt.  v.  1.  "They  drew  [the 
net]  to  shore,  and  sat  down,  (kathesantes,)  and 
gathered  the  good  [fish]  into  vessels,  but  cast  the 
bad  away."— Matt.  xiii.  48. 

The  Jews,  as  we  have  remarked,  in  our  Saviour's 
day,  uniformly  reclined  at  table,  in  imitation  of 
the  eastern  nations.  The  guests  lay  on  their  left 
sides  at  full  length,  on  elevated  couches,  placed 
around  the  table,  with  their  feet  outward,  towards 
the  sides  of  the  room,  supporting  themselves  in  a 
reclining  posture  on  their  left  arms,  and  feeding 
themselves  with  their  right  hands.  This  was  the 
position  of  the  guests  at  the  Pharisee's  table  where 
Jesus  dined,  and  the  penitent  woman  ^^stood  at  his 


82  PRIMITIVE  ATTITUDE 

feet  behind  him,^^  and  washed  them  with  her  tears. 
All  that  is  necessary  to  make  that  interesting  rela- 
tion fully  intelli2;ible  to  us  all,  is  to  give  the  origi- 
nal term  its  legitimate  meaning,  which  is,  reclined 
instead  of  sat.  ^'One  of  the  Pharisees  desired 
Jesus  that  he  would  eat  with  him,  and  he  went 
into  the  Pharisee's  house  and  sat  down  (aneklithe, 
reclined^)  to  meat.  And,  behold,  a  woman  in  the 
city,  which  was  a  sinner,  when  she  knew  that 
Jesus  sat  (reclined)  at  meat  in  the  Pharisee's  house, 
brought  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment,  and  stood  at 
his  feet  behind  him  weeping,  and  began  to  wash  his 
feet  with  tears,  and  did  wipe  them  with  the  hairs 
of  her  head,  and  kissed  his  feet,  and  anointed  them 
v/ith  the  ointment" — Luke  vii.  36-38. 

From  the  proofs  adduced,  it  appears  very  conclu- 
sive, that  our  Lord  and  his  disciples  ate  the  passover 
in  the  reclining  attitude  so  common  at  that  period 
among  the  Jews;  and  it  is  highly  probable  the  po- 
sition was  not  changed  when  he  instituted  the  Sup- 
per, immediately  after  having  eaten  the  passover. 
The  question  now  is,  are  the  followers  of  Christ 
at  this  period  and  part  of  the  world,  when  they 
partake,  to  imitate  the  posture  of  our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  at  the  institution  of  the  Supper?  In  re- 
ply to  this  question  we  say,  it  is  very  certain  that 
our  Lord  gave  no  command  concerning  the  posture 
we  are  to  assume  when  we  partake  of  the  Supper, 
nor  did  he  enjoin  it  on  us  to  imitate  him  in  reclin- 
ing at  the  table;  neither  has  any  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament writers  given  us  directions  concerning  the 


AT  THE   lord's  TABLE.  83 

attitude  most  proper  to  be  taken  by  communicants; 
nor  are  we  authorized  to  say  the  custom  of  any 
country,  or  sect  of  christians  is  law  in  this  case. 
We  are,  therefore,  of  the  opinion,  that  every 
church,  and  each  individual  is  left  at  perfect 
liberty,  on  those  occasions,  to  sit,  stand,  or  kneel, 
or  even  to  recline,  although  this  latter  attitude 
would  seem  to  those  who  are  in  the  practice  of 
kneeling  or  sitting,  to  be  a  very  indolent  and  un- 
becoming posture.  Our  mode  is  to  kneel;  this, 
however,  may  have  had  its  origin  in  the  idolatrous 
practice  of  Avorshipping  the  elements,  or  the  wafer, 
but  when  we  kneel,  it  is  not  to  worship  the  bread 
and  wine,  or  any  imaginary  divinity  or  humanity 
in  them,  but  for  the  purpose  of  making  prayer  to 
Almighty  God,  and  of  imploring  his  assisting  grace 
to  enable  us  to  use  this  means  worthily  and  profita- 
bly. And  we  think  kneeling  the  most  becoming 
attitude  for  us  unworthy  and  dependent  creatures 
to  take  in  our  approaches  to  the  high  and  holy  one, 
the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  benefactor  and 
Saviour  of  men. 

We  have  been  asked  why  our  ministers  are  di- 
rected to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  before  they 
serve  the  people.  We  know  of  no  other  good 
reason  than  that  of  its  being  most  convenient.  It 
is  right  that  the  ministers  should  partake  at  some 
period  of  the  service,  and  it  would  seem  that  they 
cannot  partake  with  the  same  degree  of  composure 
when  serving  some  fifty  or  a  hundred  persons,  as 
when  solely  engaged  with  their  brethren  in  the 


84  PRIMITIVE  ATTITtJDE. 

ministry  in  this  solemn  act  of  commemoration. — 
There  is  certainly  very  little  time  consumed  in 
their  partaking  first.  But  in  this  solemn  service 
there  should  be  no  hurry.  Sufficient  time  should 
be  allowed  to  all  for  meditation  and  prayer.  We 
have  often  been  pained  on  witnessing  the  hurried 
and  common-place  manner  of  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper,  either  on  account  of  the  previous  services 
having  been  too  much  protracted,  or  some  subse- 
quent service  pressing  on  the  time.  If  the  exer- 
cises of  one  part  of  the  day  are  too  numerous,  let 
another  part  be  selected.  We  have  been  in  the 
practice,  in  the  cities,  of  celebrating  the  Lord's 
Supper  once  a  month,  in  the  forenoon  of  the  first 
Sabbath,  immediately  after  sermon;  but  if  more 
time  be  needed,  why  not  have  this  service  in  the 
afternoon;  or,  which  would  be  more  appropriate 
and  more  in  accordance  with  scripture  usage,  in 
the  evening? 


THE  END. 


'm^ 


^^p 


Theological  Semmary-Speer   Library 


1    1012  01031    1183 


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